Post by Okwes on Jun 6, 2007 15:05:34 GMT -5
Expert contradicts Pechanga disenrollment
By: JENNIFER KABBANY - Staff Writer
www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/09/24/news/californian/20_45_019_23_06.txt
TEMECULA ---- A renowned anthropologist hired by the Pechanga Band of
Luiseno Indians to study their lineage and ancestry has called 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 was hired by Pechanga to determine whether Paulina Hunter was one of
the tribe's ancestors. "It's too bad economics and politics have been
injected into (tribal lineage rulings)."
Johnson has worked as curator of anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum
of Natural History since 1986. He earned his doctorate in anthropology at
UC Santa Barbara and teaches a course called "California Indians" at the
campus. For more than three decades, he has worked on detailed studies and
recordings of California Indians' archaeology, archival records, cultures
and history.
He researched the Hunter lineage as a paid independent consultant.
Last month, Pechanga's enrollment committee handed down a ruling that
rejected an appeal by Hunter's descendants, a family of about 100 adults,
to reverse the tribe's decision to disenroll them.
When Pechanga disenrolls a family, it not only strips the extended family
of their membership in the tribe, but also health insurance, college
scholarships and other benefits provided by the tribe, including thousands
of dollars in casino profits tribe members get each month.
The Hunters are the second large family in two years to be booted from the
tribe's rolls, in addition to the large Apis clan. There is talk that
another family is set to be disenrolled from Pechanga soon.
Hired by Pechanga two years ago, Johnson researched whether Hunter was of
Temecula descent. He made his comments on the tribe's ruling earlier this
month, after it rejected the Hunter appeal. He said he is "90 percent"
sure Hunter was an original Pechanga Indian, based on all the available
documentation.
The reason he said he cannot be 100 percent sure is because when studying
the lineage of Luiseno Indians ---- who include the Pala, Pauma, Rincon,
La Jolla, Soboba and Pechanga bands ---- there are three "primary" mission
record books missing that detail births, marriages and deaths from
1835-1852. These books were established when the mission was founded.
The name "Luiseno" derives from their having lived at or near the Spanish
mission San Luis Rey, established in 1798 and located in northern San
Diego County near Oceanside.
Hunter was born sometime during the 1830s or 1840s, and lived on the
reservation in Temecula, Johnson's research shows. That is the tie her
descendants point to to show they are Pechanga descendants.
Determining exactly who Paulina Hunter's parents are is not cut and dried
without those primary record books, Johnson said. With that, he made his
determinations using other various baptismal and marriage records,
California census books, Pechanga Indian census records, genealogical
evidence and other sources, he said.
He determined that Paulina Hunter was an original Pechanga Indian based in
part on the fact that the man most likely to be her father, Mateo
Quasicac, was the only person listed from "Pechanga" in census books from
that time.
Moreover, he said, Hunter was listed on tribal rolls in the late 19th
century and was the recipient of Pechanga Reservation allotment No. 62.
"Paulina Hunter would not have been given an allotment if she was not of
the Temecula Indians," Johnson said. "So, why was she given an allotment?"
What's more, anyone currently enrolled in the Pechanga band whose
ancestors were born between 1835 and 1852 would have the same trouble
proving their heritage using primary resource books, he said.
"They are all in the same boat as Paulina Hunter," Johnson said. "She is
not unique."
Johnson said he wrote a lengthy report to the tribe detailing his results
in 2004, and sent a letter to them reiterating his findings a few months
before the enrollment committee's August ruling.
Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro would not comment on Johnson's
remarks. He did not respond to requests for an interview.
In an August statement, Macarro said the decision to deny the Hunter
appeal was reached after months of investigation and hearings.
"This is a very complex intertribal matter involving Pechanga history and
genealogy," he wrote. "Questions about citizenship, therefore, are
resolved by the Pechanga enrollment committee, the government body with
the proper authority and ability to determine if a person meets criteria
for Pechanga citizenship.
"The insinuation that these actions are motivated by politics or profits
is reprehensible. The fact is that disenrollments occurred long before
Pechanga ever opened its gaming facility."
One Hunter family member who asked not to be named because she said she
would face retaliation as she lives on the reservation, said Pechanga
enrollment committee members are taking the word of former Tribal Chairman
Vincent Belasco Ibanez, who is finishing up an eight-year prison term for
child molestation, over Johnson's findings.
Ibanez was known as a local expert on the preservation of American Indian
artifacts and for conducting nature walks and seminars on native plant
species for the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony east of Temecula.
The Hunter family member also said that because records show Paulina
Hunter's mother was baptized at the San Luis Rey Mission, enrollment
committee members are taking it to mean she was from there. But everyone
traveled to that mission to be baptized during that century, she said.
"These people are targeting certain families," said the Hunter family
member. "They are just throwing out all the facts. It's all about
financial gain. It's all about more money."
The ousted members of the Apis family turned to the courts to plead their
case, but have not won a verdict. Indian sovereignty and disenrollment
have taken on a new significance around the nation, with the rise of
Indian casinos and the money and political clout that accompany them.
Pechanga is not the only tribe to disenroll some of its members.
"I don't agree that it was an unfortunate mistake. In my opinion it was a
premeditated decision to disenroll the Paulina Hunter descendants," said
John Gomez Jr., a spokesman for the 130 disenrolled adult Apis family
members.
"We've been proud of (our heritage) and participated in the different
aspects of being a tribal member, an Indian person ---- and one decision
has all that taken away. We can't participate in tribal affairs, we lose
our health benefits, the children lose their culture. That's the most
devastating because that is your identity."
Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or
jkabbany@californian.com.
By: JENNIFER KABBANY - Staff Writer
www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/09/24/news/californian/20_45_019_23_06.txt
TEMECULA ---- A renowned anthropologist hired by the Pechanga Band of
Luiseno Indians to study their lineage and ancestry has called 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 was hired by Pechanga to determine whether Paulina Hunter was one of
the tribe's ancestors. "It's too bad economics and politics have been
injected into (tribal lineage rulings)."
Johnson has worked as curator of anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum
of Natural History since 1986. He earned his doctorate in anthropology at
UC Santa Barbara and teaches a course called "California Indians" at the
campus. For more than three decades, he has worked on detailed studies and
recordings of California Indians' archaeology, archival records, cultures
and history.
He researched the Hunter lineage as a paid independent consultant.
Last month, Pechanga's enrollment committee handed down a ruling that
rejected an appeal by Hunter's descendants, a family of about 100 adults,
to reverse the tribe's decision to disenroll them.
When Pechanga disenrolls a family, it not only strips the extended family
of their membership in the tribe, but also health insurance, college
scholarships and other benefits provided by the tribe, including thousands
of dollars in casino profits tribe members get each month.
The Hunters are the second large family in two years to be booted from the
tribe's rolls, in addition to the large Apis clan. There is talk that
another family is set to be disenrolled from Pechanga soon.
Hired by Pechanga two years ago, Johnson researched whether Hunter was of
Temecula descent. He made his comments on the tribe's ruling earlier this
month, after it rejected the Hunter appeal. He said he is "90 percent"
sure Hunter was an original Pechanga Indian, based on all the available
documentation.
The reason he said he cannot be 100 percent sure is because when studying
the lineage of Luiseno Indians ---- who include the Pala, Pauma, Rincon,
La Jolla, Soboba and Pechanga bands ---- there are three "primary" mission
record books missing that detail births, marriages and deaths from
1835-1852. These books were established when the mission was founded.
The name "Luiseno" derives from their having lived at or near the Spanish
mission San Luis Rey, established in 1798 and located in northern San
Diego County near Oceanside.
Hunter was born sometime during the 1830s or 1840s, and lived on the
reservation in Temecula, Johnson's research shows. That is the tie her
descendants point to to show they are Pechanga descendants.
Determining exactly who Paulina Hunter's parents are is not cut and dried
without those primary record books, Johnson said. With that, he made his
determinations using other various baptismal and marriage records,
California census books, Pechanga Indian census records, genealogical
evidence and other sources, he said.
He determined that Paulina Hunter was an original Pechanga Indian based in
part on the fact that the man most likely to be her father, Mateo
Quasicac, was the only person listed from "Pechanga" in census books from
that time.
Moreover, he said, Hunter was listed on tribal rolls in the late 19th
century and was the recipient of Pechanga Reservation allotment No. 62.
"Paulina Hunter would not have been given an allotment if she was not of
the Temecula Indians," Johnson said. "So, why was she given an allotment?"
What's more, anyone currently enrolled in the Pechanga band whose
ancestors were born between 1835 and 1852 would have the same trouble
proving their heritage using primary resource books, he said.
"They are all in the same boat as Paulina Hunter," Johnson said. "She is
not unique."
Johnson said he wrote a lengthy report to the tribe detailing his results
in 2004, and sent a letter to them reiterating his findings a few months
before the enrollment committee's August ruling.
Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro would not comment on Johnson's
remarks. He did not respond to requests for an interview.
In an August statement, Macarro said the decision to deny the Hunter
appeal was reached after months of investigation and hearings.
"This is a very complex intertribal matter involving Pechanga history and
genealogy," he wrote. "Questions about citizenship, therefore, are
resolved by the Pechanga enrollment committee, the government body with
the proper authority and ability to determine if a person meets criteria
for Pechanga citizenship.
"The insinuation that these actions are motivated by politics or profits
is reprehensible. The fact is that disenrollments occurred long before
Pechanga ever opened its gaming facility."
One Hunter family member who asked not to be named because she said she
would face retaliation as she lives on the reservation, said Pechanga
enrollment committee members are taking the word of former Tribal Chairman
Vincent Belasco Ibanez, who is finishing up an eight-year prison term for
child molestation, over Johnson's findings.
Ibanez was known as a local expert on the preservation of American Indian
artifacts and for conducting nature walks and seminars on native plant
species for the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony east of Temecula.
The Hunter family member also said that because records show Paulina
Hunter's mother was baptized at the San Luis Rey Mission, enrollment
committee members are taking it to mean she was from there. But everyone
traveled to that mission to be baptized during that century, she said.
"These people are targeting certain families," said the Hunter family
member. "They are just throwing out all the facts. It's all about
financial gain. It's all about more money."
The ousted members of the Apis family turned to the courts to plead their
case, but have not won a verdict. Indian sovereignty and disenrollment
have taken on a new significance around the nation, with the rise of
Indian casinos and the money and political clout that accompany them.
Pechanga is not the only tribe to disenroll some of its members.
"I don't agree that it was an unfortunate mistake. In my opinion it was a
premeditated decision to disenroll the Paulina Hunter descendants," said
John Gomez Jr., a spokesman for the 130 disenrolled adult Apis family
members.
"We've been proud of (our heritage) and participated in the different
aspects of being a tribal member, an Indian person ---- and one decision
has all that taken away. We can't participate in tribal affairs, we lose
our health benefits, the children lose their culture. That's the most
devastating because that is your identity."
Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or
jkabbany@californian.com.