Who runs the tribe?

The fact that the Pechanga enrollment committee needed guidance understanding the will and voice of the people with regards to the removal of the disenrollment procedure as specified in the petition of July 18, 2005 shows major confusion and inability to make critical judgments and decisions on documented evidence. This blog is about the Pechanga enrollment committee’s inability to determine facts.

According to the letter signed by the Tribal council interpreting the will and voice of the people and its directive to the enrollment committee to continue with the disenrollment process, clearly shows violations of the Bands bylaws and Constitution. Only the people can determine membership rights. As they have decided on enrollment issues in the past including adoption into the tribe. The General membership also enacted the current moratorium on membership, illegal as it violated tribal law and custom. Only the General Membership can make decisions, the councils job is to follow them not interpret them.


What say you?

What happens here stays here!

If you are entering Indian country do you leave your rights behind?

The answer is YES!

You May or may not be aware that each time you cross from Pechanga Parkway onto the Casino you are essentially leaving US governed territories. Oh you didn't know! Well you should, and moreover you should be able to read what rights you are losing before you make that decision.

When you cross the border anywhere from the US there is a large sign telling you clearly that you are now crossing into another country and you are essentially governed by a different set of laws. When you step onto Casino property you are also leaving the US and you should read the following stories which may make you think twice before you do it again.

OP Blog


"Anonymous said...
Isn't it funny how they use the laws to suit them?...my Aunt was gambling at the Casino and 2 tribal girls got in a fight and threw their beer mugs at each other..one of the beer mugs crashed into my Aunts head...the Casino wouldn't even let the police come into the building...we all had to go outside in the street..the Casino wouldn't even offer to pay for any medical..and as we were waiting outside for the police...they snuck the 2 tribal girls out and said that they were banned from the Casino...and by the way...we were 7 Star players at the time and they totally blew us off..people should know that they have no rights inside these Indian Casino's...and now it sounds like even the cops have no rights...they didn't shoot them because they were Indians minding their own business...they were causing trouble and shooting guns..quit using the race card..."

Extracts taken from an article, "Some learn Indian justice the hard way".California tribes enjoy the same immunity from civil suits as that granted to foreign countries.By Stephen Magagnini -- Bee Staff Writer

"If you get into a car accident with a tribal employee on tribal business, are injured at an Indian resort or casino, or are fired without just cause, you can't sue the tribe in California court. If you're owed money in a business dispute or are sexually harassed, you can't sue, either.The tribes alone determine civil justice in Indian territory because, as sovereign nations, they enjoy immunity from civil suits -- the same immunity granted to states and foreign countries."

These are just a couple of instances. Feel free to post your thoughts.

One suggestion is:

"When you cross the border anywhere from the US there is a large sign telling you clearly that you are now crossing into another country and you are essentially governed by a different set of laws."

Do you think you should know what your rights are when you visit Pechanga or any indian Casino?

Posted Timeline

Pechanga Timeline (add your facts)

There are no tall tales the CPP can put out there to refute this line of events.

The Incredible Shrinking Tribe

You may have friends or family who will not have a job at the Pechanga Resort and Casino!

Pechanga has eliminated 25% of its enrolled membership and is still looking at ways to cut costs.
The next round of cost saving efforts will be the elemination of Full time employees. 1/3 of the Pechanga Resort and Casino employees are being targeted for expulsion, cutting the salaries and benifits to over 200 full time employees.

Well the actual Numbers just reported are up to 400 full time employees.
The economy was blamed for the near 9 percent trim on its workforce.“This has been the most difficult decision we have had to make since beginning operations,’’ Amy Minniear, president of the Pechanga Development Corp., said in a statement.“For months we have resisted the pressure to lay team members off,’’ Minniear said. “But because of the prolonged economic downturn, we must downsize in order to adjust to the current market conditions and position ourselves for success once the economy recovers.”The definite number of job cuts has not yet been determined, nor has the job type. Minniear noted that a comprehensive severance package, including outplacement services, would be developed.

Per capita payments are at stake, and struggling to stay the same. They are currently paying tribal members $30,000 a month. Instead of decreasing percapita payments because it's a "business" they will allow the terminations of Hundreds of full time employees.

Enrollment issues

anotherview[-] wrote on Jul 19, 2008 8:40 PM:Unfortunately, in writing about tribal membership disputes, journalists join money with the controversy. Of course, this technique naturally gains more audience. Yet, the facts of tribal membership or lack thereof have nothing at all to with money. Moreover, the implication that tribal greed motivates tribal disenrollment has no foundation. After all, before the advent of tribal casinos, some tribes engaged in disenrolling individuals with inadequate membership credentials, to correct errors in the tribal roll. Facts and hard information supported by research and investigation typify the tribal government process of determining tribal membership. Afterward, a careful judgment then takes place, sometimes resulting in a disenrollment. Yes, the advent of tribal casinos does generally coincide with a rise in tribal disenrollments. Part of the impetus for disenrolling individuals now, lies in their simply not deserving tribal rights, benefits, and privileges. For a long time, the tribes have tolerated these undeserving individuals. The jig is up. The moment has come to address and resolve the longstanding questions associated with these undeserving individuals and their false claims. Their disenrollment, where appropriate and justified, accomplishes this desirable end.


To another view,
Yes corrections in memberships have been performed in Pechanga history. The corrections only involved individuals not entire extended families. Extended families that meet the Bands requirements as discovered by the Bands own hired expert Dr. John Johnson.Not only greed but a play for political power is the driving force behind tribal Factions such as the CPP (Concerned Pechanga People). This faction is full of criminals, and the FBI and BIA are fully aware of what is going on. The CPP by action will be the downfall of Pechanga.


San Pasqual tribe could expel about 80 members

Tribal Elections 2009

Following the tribal elections for 2009:

Mark Macarro 285-Elected
Andy Masiel 129
Gloria Wright 23
Dianne Aryanno 89-Elected

Donna Barron 197-Elected
Raymond Basquez Jr. 111

Marc Galac 234-Elected

Mark Luker 234-Elected
Linda Markstrom 109
Anthony Miranda 116
Brabdy Miranda 58

Russell "Butch" Murphy 236-Elected

Ken Perez 245- Elected

Gabriel Pico153-Elected

Mediation OK'd in split by tribe on membership

Mr. Fletcher,
Why could you not do the same thing for your tribe?


"The disagreement has split the tribe into two camps, which the Bureau of Indian Affairs is working to reconcile. "

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080717/news_1m17pasqual.html

Thank You!

I appreciate all of you!

Thank you for stopping in. It is important that we post our feelings. You may not agree with what I post, but your feedback is important.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MywHE6Nt4Fg

Who is this person? A paid lobbyist for the tribes who are terminating life long members and extended families?

Elders being denied health care, children being taken out of schools on the reservations, peoples houses being bulldozed over to make room for casino's. People, if this was happening anywhere beside Indian country you would stand up. We send troops overseas to put down dictatorships, why would we stand by and let this happen here?
Indians are having their Civil rights violated by corrupt governments. They try to spread this false information and hope these people die off and no one notices.


http://nativetimes.bizweb5.tulsaconnect.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=55

WE HAVE THE TRUTH!

This Blog is a direct post to all the people who believe nothing is happening for our continued efforts to expose the CPP (Concerned Pechanga People) AKA Corrupt Pechanga People for who they are.

''The future preservation and prosperity of American Indians will not be decided in the halls of Congress or state legislatures, nor will it be adjudicated within the solemn chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court,'' said Anthony Pico, former chairman of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians. ''It will be decided in the court of public opinion. ''How we are viewed in the eyes of the nation - and our ability to deliver our message to the public, the press, elected officials and federal and state policy makers - is of crucial importance to our grandchildren, their grandchildren and future generations of Native Americans. ''Perception is reality,'' Pico continued. ''Truth is our ally. If we don't take steps necessary to promote and accurate image of contemporary Native America, if we do not tell our story completely and accurately to all who will listen, the pillars of economic, social and governmental progress tribes have begun building over the last 30 years will come crashing down around us. Sadly, I fear cracks are already growing in the foundation.''
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417707

What the CPP fails to have is TRUTH! They will be the downfall of Pechanga. For our Children, Grandchildren and all Future generations of Pechanga! We must expose the CPP, we have Truth on our side.

The Pechanga Indian Removal Acts

The Pechanga Indian Removal Acts
Posted on January 16th, 2008 by Original Pechanga
The explosion of Indian Gaming in California has lead to some acts that tribes such as Pechanga Band of Temecula would like to keep as “family secrets.” Removing Indians from tribes, pronouncing them non-Indians, had the same effect as Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Acts had in 1830’s America. Get the Indians we don’t want or like out of the way.
In 2004 and 2005, as part of the Concerned Pechanga People’s Indian Removal Policy, members of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians were forced to give up their membership in the tribe whose reservation is in Temecula, CA. Life-long members, who have had land on the reservation for centuries were forcibly expelled from the tribe. This act of paper genocide has had devastating effects on 25% of the Pechanga people.
Elders no longer qualify for the health care that they lobbied the tribe to provide for all its members. The young are not allowed to attend the reservation’s school, being forcibly blocked and told to leave, much in the manner of the white racists who blocked black children from integrating schools in Little Rock in the 1950’s.
Those who were removed, face an unsecured financial future. Many worked for the tribe, were part of all events, meetings, have their dead buried in the Pechanga Cemetery. Now, that has ended. In order to increase the per capita ($15,000 per month at the time of the first removal) some of the descendents of Pablo Apis, the family of Manuela Miranda were terminated from the tribe. Per capita grew to $20,000 per month (plus bonuses) for those remaining, members of the Concerned Pechanga People initiated a misinformation campaign, one that has successfully terminated over 300 Native Americans of Pechanga descent at the time of the second removal (the descendents of Paulina Hunter.) The per capita is now reportedly $40,000 per month.
Blood relatives are banished from the reservations, families who are no longer in the tribe, but live on the reservation property that they’ve owned since the late 1800’s live in fear that the tribe will take away their water, which has been threatened by some of the remaining tribal members. Will Pechanga really turn off their lifeblood, as easily as they took away their civil rights? It’s not difficult to think so, after the atrocities that the CPP have already committed.
The Concerned Pechanga People
This is the group of people that let the blackness of greed take over their hearts and minds.
The Splinter Group
This group is an offshoot of the 1980’s Splinter Group, led by Russell Murphy and assisted by Frances Miranda and Ihrene Scearse (later on the enrollment committee and committed to removing tribal members). Non-enrolled members of Pechanga, they started attending meetings and disrupted the regular goings on of the business. They announced that they were separating from the band and forming their own Tribe. They petitioned the BIA to recognize them, but the BIA refused.
With few exceptions, no member of the splinter group applied for membership because they knew they could not meet the constitutional requirements established by the Pechanga Band.
The actions of the splinter group raise legitimate questions: Are they really Pechanga? Are they able to document their lineal descent from an Original Pechanga Temecula Person as the Pechanga Bands Constitution and Bylaws require? Did they figure that disruption of tribal matters was the way to go?
This is not the portrait of a tribe in need, asking the people of California to allow tribes to have Las Vegas type gaming such as portrayed in the Prop. 1A and Prop. 5 television commercials of the 1990’s. This is about power, greed and violations of civil rights, voting rights, and elder abuse. It’s about tribal governments wielding sovereignty like a club and it’s about individual Indians that have nowhere to turn for justice.
I’ll explore this more in future posts, with thoughts on expanded gaming in California and what it feels like to be told you aren’t who you know you are.
- Original Pechanga
Terminated Member of The Pechanga Band of Mission Indians

10 Things you can do

10 Things You Can Do to Help STOP the Lawlessness in Indian Country

1. Call, Write, and Email your Congressional representatives and tell them that the violations of human rights and civil liberties must be stopped and the violators must be prosecuted.
2. Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers describing the violations of human rights and civil liberties occurring in Indian Country.
3. Boycott Indian Casinos owned by those tribes whose tribal officials have violated the human rights and civil liberties of its citizens and customers.
4. Get others to boycott with you.
5. Stand beside those who have been wronged - walk the protest lines.
6. Speak out about the injustices occurring in Indian Country. Don't hide behind the fear "that you might be next".
7. Stand up to your tribal leaders and show them that you won't tolerate being a part of creating another era of dishonor and genocide against Indian People. Do not hide behind the shame of what is being done to your family and friends
8. Join and support the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization or any other organizations that work to promote, protect and preserve human rights and civil liberties in Indian Country.
9. Persuade local business and community leaders not to accept Casino money from tribal officials that violate the human and civil rights of any individual.
10. Support and encourage those who have had their human rights and civil liberties violated by tribal officials.