Non-Tribe wants casino on non-tribal lands.. sound familiar?

Once again we have a group of people trying to re-tell historical records to twist things to their advantage. The difference in this case is that the surrounding community is doing their homework first. Then of course you hear the usual disrespect.. hate... racism against indians. The priceless quote from this article by Rhonda Morningstar Pope in the Sacramento Bee:

"Pope said Beckham misunderstands the Indian way if he bases his conclusions on the absence of written records. Such formalized activities were not the tradition of Indians."

But running a large gambling casino and bilking people out of their money IS in the tradition of Indians... alrighty then. Got it. Absolutely ludicrous.

Amador ups ante against Ione casino plan
County's federal suit says the tribe has no historic presence on the land.
By David Whitney - dwhitney@mcclatchydc.com
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, November 25, 2007

WASHINGTON – Amador County has stepped up its legal fight to stop a tiny Ione Indian tribe from building a large casino on a narrow strip of land in the rural county, about 40 miles southeast of Sacramento.

In a recent federal court filing that challenges a casino development effort by the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, the county says it has uncovered new information showing "the total lack of any historical tribal presence on the Rancheria by this tribe."

Tribal chairwoman Rhonda Morningstar Pope condemned the statement, saying, "I take great offense to this idea that we are not a tribe."

"This is the county looking for anything they can to get accomplished what they need," Pope said. "They are doing it in a way that is completely disrespectful to not only my band but to other natives. It's a shame that we even have to stand up and justify that we are Indian, that we are a tribe and that we existed."

The county has challenged the casino plans in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The National Indian Gaming Commission has said tribal members have continuously occupied land known as Buena Vista since 1905. In 1927, the federal government purchased a 67 1/2-acre site for Pope's great-grandfather, a Me-Wuk laborer named Louie Oliver; his wife, Annie; and their four children, Lucile, Eleanor, Enos and Marie.

But the county claims the Buena Vista Rancheria property was never an Indian reservation and therefore the Interior Department should not have approved a state compact in 2004 that qualified it for a casino. It has asked U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts to add its new contention to its lawsuit against the department.

The county also claims that even if the land is determined to have reservation status, the Buena Vista Rancheria band has no right to build the casino because it was never a tribe there.

The NIGC says the tribe has been a federally recognized Indian tribe since 1985.

The county's allegations build a new layer in a case pending before Roberts for 18 months awaiting a decision on the Justice Department's motion to dismiss it.

The Justice Department objected to reopening the case now, giving Roberts another decision to render. But the county's attorney, Dennis Whittlesey, said that if Roberts does not permit the case to be expanded, the county will file a separate lawsuit.

Buena Vista is proposing a Las Vegas-style casino with 2,000 slot machines and 80 gambling tables on a strip of land that's less than 200 yards wide but a mile long. The development also would include a hotel complex and a parking structure for as many as 4,000 cars.

Amador County contends that the proposed development on Coal Mine Road near Highway 88 would create a traffic nightmare and overwhelm county services.

The county's new arguments are based on research conducted by Stephen Beckham, a scholar and author on American Indians in the West and a history professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore.

While the Rancheria's tribal chairwoman appears to be a direct descendent of the Oliver family that settled on the property, Beckham said he could find no evidence that the small family of mixed Indian heritage ever operated as a tribe.

Beckham said he searched Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Archives records "for days and days" for anything that would show tribal activities. None was found.

He also talked to a stepson who lived on the property from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s.

"My particular reason for interviewing him was to ascertain whether there was a tribe functioning there," Beckham said. "He said there was nothing. There were no meetings. There are no minutes. There is just not a record of tribal activity nor their treatment of the property as a reservation."

Pope said Beckham misunderstands the Indian way if he bases his conclusions on the absence of written records. Such formalized activities were not the tradition of Indians.

"Buena Vista is one of the most documented places in California," she said. "We had three roundhouses there. That place was the central capital of ceremonialism. There were great medicine people. There were dancers. There were doctors. This is so disrespectful that this is even being brought up."

Pope has previously produced documents for The Bee, including a court ruling involving child support and Social Security records, that identify her as the daughter of Jesse Pope, a Me-Wuk who grew up on Buena Vista land and was buried in the Buena Vista cemetery. In addition, his death certificate, court probate records and tribal rosters from national archives show that Jesse Pope was the son of Eleanor Oliver and the grandson of Louie Oliver.

Beckham's report, which he described as a tragic history of the Oliver family, has not been released by the county.

In its court filing, the county says it is not enough that the Buena Vista property was found by the National Indian Gaming Commission in 2005 to be reservation lands suitable for a casino.

"Newly discovered evidence demonstrates that no tribe, including this tribe, resided on the lands comprising the Rancheria at any time," the county states.