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DEDICATED TO FREE THOUGHT AND FREE SPEECH IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD |
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AVA's Severn & LCFP's Murphy |
By Philip Murphy
While I'm pretty used to getting people wound-up over things I've said or written on this side of the Mayacamas, I have to admit I wasn't expecting to be characterized as a myopic racist by the editor of the AVA in the last edition. To be sure, I was very direct in my critique of some of the actions of our local tribes over the years, but only did so in an attempt to highlight the fact that they sometimes adopt a double standard that can only be described as either dishonest or delusional. In my view, my criticisms of tribal governments have been quite in line with those of the governmental bodies in the rest of the community, and I firmly believe that a strong case can be made that both constituencies are oftentimes poorly served by their elected leaders.
A good example of this is the issue surrounding the development of Rattlesnake island, where the Elem tribe recently failed to act when an opportunity to purchase the land was briefly available. Now Mr. Severn reports that the new owner (John Nady), has started talks with Elem to make a buy-out happen, which I hope is true. On Monday, Nady‚s lawyer told county supervisor Rob Brown that everything's for sale, when asked about it, but when I asked Nady himself Tuesday , he gave a flat "no, why should I?" in response to the same question. When I asked Elem tribal administrator Jim Brown Tuesday night if he had heard anything along those lines he replied that he was also unaware of any negotiations going on or pending. I have lobbied hard behind the scenes in recent days to get the BOS to adopt a goal of pushing a buy-out plan, because in the end its the only solution that will work and is fair, and also because neither Elem or the county can afford to fight Nady in court (we'd probably lose anyway). BTW, my previous assessment of Elem as being "dysfunctional" I have to admit is a little dated, as just few weeks ago Ray Brown and his brother Jim took over as Elem tribal chairman and administrator respectively . Now at least they have some competent, honest and fair-minded people running the show, and maybe now the tribe can start to get itself back on its feet.
Mr. Severn wonders why I think Elem should be asking for help from Wes Chesbro and Patty Berg and here's why: all three possible funding sources for a buy-out identified by Elem reps are controlled by the government, Elem itself is essentially broke. This wouldn't have been the case if tribal members hadn't burned down their casino over a decade ago, and remained so poorly organized and led (until quite recently) that they are still in no position to get their gaming license back or rebuild the gaming facility. I have heard several excuses for the period of violence at Elem that resulted in the casino arson (One version is local youthful marauding rednecks , another is Mexican gangs, but I've never heard that the casino wasn't torched by Elem members), but here is an indisputable fact: if you ask any deputy Sheriff or Highway patrolman where he'd be the most reluctant to respond to a call in all Lake County, they'd say Elem. When a fourteen-year-old Elem youth walks into a liquor store and shoots the owner in the face to steal $20 for a bag of dope, or when other young Elm members beat people to death for no good reason, I think its fair to question why so many people in such a tiny community have been convicted of homicide or attempts to commit it. You can't blame everything on rednecks or Mexican gangs, in spite of what some of the tribal apologists would have you believe, sometimes what ails the Native American population is self-generated grief.
I also think that our local tribes would do much for themselves PR-wise if they would hold themselves to the same standards as everyone else around here when undertaking their own development projects, since nothing drives a wedge faster and deeper than seeing the tribes do things on their land that they would be up in arms about if the skin color of the persons in question didn't match their own. The new Konocti Vista casino development on the Big Valley Rancheria is a case in point, since every sign of respect for the land was routinely abandoned if it in any way delayed or complicated the project. The tulles lining the shore were dredged straight from the lake and onto an enormous smoldering burn pile in order to create the new marina, which caused the entire Big Valley to be choked with smoke for days, which in turn generated dozens of calls to the county Air Quality department that they had no authority to respond to. The giant percolation pond adjoining the casino was crudely bulldozed practically overnight, meaning that no serious archeological survey was done a stones throw from where they found the skeleton in the waterline trench, and where it was even more likely that remains and artifacts would be found. The casino and motel are perhaps the most ugly new development in the county, and the huge parking lot constitutes the largest expanse of asphalt devoid of trees or any other sign of nature to be seen locally as well. So much for the much-vaunted regard for mother earth by some of America's first inhabitants. People know none of this could go on anywhere else in the county, and this is why people start taking the Indian's claim of being better stewards of the land less seriously. Maybe if Mr. Severn came over here and saw for himself the way SOME tribal members pile trash around their un-maintained homes he'd have second thoughts about jumping on board the "all white man bad, all Indian good" PC bandwagon, I sure hope he'd focus on the problem and not the skin color. Or if he feels really lucky he can go for a ride with me over to the Elem res, where he can judge for himself the temperament of the locals when confronted by a couple of unknown palefaces.
People here just want one standard to be applied, if the ground is sacred does the skin color of those crapping on it matter? Having spoken to Nady face-to-face I can assure everyone that he is a racist prick, but to put all of the blame on his shoulders is not honest or helpful, when Elem or the other tribes screw-up they should take their lumps and move on (figuratively). Just like everyone else, no?
Philip Murphy
# 01058 hits since July 19 2006