Post by Okwes on May 9, 2007 14:13:58 GMT -5
Tribal-court challenge is rejected
JAMUL INDIAN RESERVATION � Two tribal dissidents trying to block construction of a casino failed yesterday to convince a judge that the Jamul Indian Village has no authority to evict them under the auspices of a regional intertribal court.
Walter Rosales and Karen Toggery, who have lifelong blood ties to the village but are not officially enrolled, argued that the Jamul tribe has been hijacked by officers and members wrongly recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The two contend they are the tribe's rightful leaders, one of several claims they have pursued in a series of unsuccessful suits dating back to the mid-1990s.
Southern California Intertribal Court Judge Anthony Brandenburg, sitting as a circuit judge in the first hearing of the Jamul Indian Village Tribal Court, rejected the plaintiffs' argument that the court lacked jurisdiction to serve as a legal forum for the eviction proceedings.
The Jamul tribal government issued eviction notices to Rosales and Toggery on Jan. 17. The dissidents occupy the last of 12 homes on the 6-acre reservation, which is being cleared to make way for a $200 million casino that is vehemently opposed by neighboring residents and county Supervisor Dianne Jacob. In yesterday's closed proceedings at the Jamul tribal offices, Brandenburg scheduled a Feb. 23 hearing for arguments on the evictions. Rosales and Toggery contend that land grading and casino construction would desecrate the tiny Jamul reservation, where funerary objects of their family members have been burned and buried near their homes as part of Kumeyaay Indian rituals. The two cite such objections in an injunction lawsuit against the California Native American Heritage Commission that was filed last month in county Superior Court. They succeeded yesterday in getting a Superior Court order halting crews from dismantling the reservation's meeting hall until a
hearing on their injunction motion takes place March 19.
JAMUL INDIAN RESERVATION � Two tribal dissidents trying to block construction of a casino failed yesterday to convince a judge that the Jamul Indian Village has no authority to evict them under the auspices of a regional intertribal court.
Walter Rosales and Karen Toggery, who have lifelong blood ties to the village but are not officially enrolled, argued that the Jamul tribe has been hijacked by officers and members wrongly recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The two contend they are the tribe's rightful leaders, one of several claims they have pursued in a series of unsuccessful suits dating back to the mid-1990s.
Southern California Intertribal Court Judge Anthony Brandenburg, sitting as a circuit judge in the first hearing of the Jamul Indian Village Tribal Court, rejected the plaintiffs' argument that the court lacked jurisdiction to serve as a legal forum for the eviction proceedings.
The Jamul tribal government issued eviction notices to Rosales and Toggery on Jan. 17. The dissidents occupy the last of 12 homes on the 6-acre reservation, which is being cleared to make way for a $200 million casino that is vehemently opposed by neighboring residents and county Supervisor Dianne Jacob. In yesterday's closed proceedings at the Jamul tribal offices, Brandenburg scheduled a Feb. 23 hearing for arguments on the evictions. Rosales and Toggery contend that land grading and casino construction would desecrate the tiny Jamul reservation, where funerary objects of their family members have been burned and buried near their homes as part of Kumeyaay Indian rituals. The two cite such objections in an injunction lawsuit against the California Native American Heritage Commission that was filed last month in county Superior Court. They succeeded yesterday in getting a Superior Court order halting crews from dismantling the reservation's meeting hall until a
hearing on their injunction motion takes place March 19.