Klamath- Trinity Tribes Continue Legal Battle to Save Klamath Salmon, Federal Judge Restores Flows

 

Federal Law and Senior Treaty Rights establish the Hoopa Valley Tribes Right to Harvest Salmon from the Trinity River Utilizing Traditional Methods- Hoopa Tribal Fisherman's Traditional Fishing Location (pic)

FRESNO — A federal judge Friday afternoon reversed his earlier ruling and approved sending more water down the Trinity River to help spawning chinook salmon.
After two days of hearings in U.S. District Court in Fresno pitting powerful San Joaquin Valley agricultural interests against Northern California Indian tribes and fishing groups, Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill ruled that higher flows out of Lewiston Dam were needed to prevent a die-off in the Klamath River. "It's a victory for the Klamath River and its fishery-dependent community," said Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. The ruling came after the Westlands Water District and San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to stop sending more water down the river to prevent fall-run chinook salmon from becoming sick and dying due to crowded and warm water conditions. The judge earlier this month ruled in favor of the water agencies and banned higher flows in the river until hearings Wednesday and Thursday. "Neither side holds veto power over the other," O'Neill said in his ruling, referring to the competing agricultural and fishing interests. "Nevertheless, on balance, considering the significantly lower volume of water now projected to be involved and the potential and enormous risk to the fishery of doing nothing, the court finds it in the public interest to permit the augmentation to proceed." The bureau planned on Aug. 7 to raise releases from Lewiston Dam from 450 cubic-feet-per-second to 1,100 cfs until the last week in September. The water agencies claimed that would harm them by reducing the amount of water available to them from Trinity Lake in coming years. Water from Lewiston and Trinity lakes are part of the Central Valley Water Project. Some of it is piped over the mountains and into the Sacramento River, where it is sent south to the delta and eventually the San Joaquin Valley. The water agencies contended the bureau didn't adequately address the impacts of the higher flows on San Joaquin Valley farmers and that higher flows out of Lewiston Dam violated the Department of the Interior's "record of decision" regulating the amount of water in the river. O'Neill agreed the bureau's environmental analysis "gives little attention" to how the higher flows would affect farmers, but continuing to prohibit sending more water to help the fish would "cause more environmental harm that it would prevent." Spain said it is likely the bureau would have to do a more thorough environmental analysis to prevent a repeat of this year's lawsuit. The fishermen's association and Hoopa Valley Tribe both filed court papers in support of increasing river flows. "The Trinity River is our vessel of life and the salmon are our lifeblood. We applaud the decision to release this water to avert a fish disaster, however this lawsuit demonstrates the need for long-term solutions to the fisheries crisis in the Klamath and Trinity rivers" Hoopa Valley Chairwoman Danielle Vigil-Masten said in a written statement. Fisheries biologists claim water from the Trinity, which flows into the Klamath, would prevent a repeat of a fish die-off similar to one that happened in 2002, when more than 30,500 salmon and steelhead died. Fish experts say that because of low flows, a large run of salmon and warm water temperatures in the Klamath, another fish die-off is imminent this year. About 272,400 chinook are expected to return to the Klamath this year, compared to the 170,000 in the river in 2002, officials said. Flushing higher flows down the Trinity reduces fish crowding, washes pathogens out of the water and cools the river, reducing the likelihood of fish disease and death, officials said.

 

Federal judge OKs higher water flows into Trinity River- from redding.com

Redding Rancheria Hands Out More Gaming $, Wintu Tribe Again Not Among Recipients

Redding Rancheria is required by state law to distribute monies into the local non-indian community in an effort to offset the negative effects of Indian Gaming. Nothing in the law protects the Indian people around the Redding area from these same negative effects.

Redding Rancheria kicked out (disenrolled) the Foreman Family in 2004.

Redding Rancheria again uses monetary donations to coerce local non-Indian groups, while doing nothing for the Wintu Tribe or its members. While Toyon remains closed, and many Wintu remain homeless and without housing and a critical landbase.

The list of June 2013 contributions byand amounts in USD $:

Anderson Fire- $10,000
Millville Fire $10,000
City of Anderson $5450
Coffee Creek Fire $1500
Cottonwood Fire $5799
Empire Rehab $5000
Hat Creek Fire $8500
Hooves for Humanity $1000
Intermountain Health $2353
Lewiston CSD $1900
KIXE $4500
Vets Support Group $8000
Catholic Social Services $4000
Piano Angels $2500
YMCA $4500
Shasta Fire $5131
Roller Hockey $2685
Special Olympics Inc $1200
United Way $5000
Watershed Center $2400
Little League Baseball $2602


Redding Rancheria contributions FY 2013 to date total more than $94,000 and $2,055,700 total since the inception of the Fund.

How many houses could be built for elders at Toyon with $2 million dollars, with an average of $50,000 per single senior unit?

The answer is 40+ homes.

Why do the people at Redding Rancheria refuse to help Wintu People? At least 2 grants for Wintu Community Projects were denied by Redding Rancheria in Fiscal Year 2013.

SWF is calling on community leaders to not accept Blood Money, or return monies from Win-River Casino thru Redding Rancheria, until the leaders of Redding Rancheria do the right thing and assist their own Wintu People first.

Tribal Gaming Revenue Doled Out in Shasta County

photo- Win River Casino in Redding, Ca
from redding.com

Six Shasta County fire protection and law enforcement agencies have been awarded a total of $259,152 in Indian gaming grants.

The Local Community Benefit Committee announced this morning the 2011-12 recipients are:

Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, $50,000, to upgrade hand-held rescue radios and pay a casino deputy liaison;

Redding Police Department, $75,000, to support financial crimes investigations;

Redding Fire Department, $50,517, to buy self-contained breathing-apparatus bottles;

Anderson Fire Protection District, $24,899, to buy equipment for a fire engine;

Happy Valley Fire Protection District, $13,536, to pay seasonal fire fighters;

Burney Fire Protection District, $45,000, to replace a command vehicle.

The monies assist in mitigating impacts caused by the Win River and Pit River Casinos.

The committee, which is composed of members from the Redding Rancheria, the city of Redding and the county, received 14 requests for funding.

source redding.com

RPD Murder of Pit River Tribal Member Opens Old Wounds

Memorial at South market St. in South Redding was erected after the brutal police shooting of Pit River Tribal Member Kenny Wilson on August 4, 2011

A long history of loss for Pit River Tribe
from redding.com


Indian experts, local historians and members of the Pit River Tribe say to understand the mistrust some might have toward authorities in the wake of a fatal police shooting of a tribe member last month, one must first look at the tribe's tragic and bloody history.

The federally recognized tribe is made up of 11 bands, whose ancestors were seminomadic hunters, gatherers and fishermen. They lived primarily near Mt. Lassen and the Pit River watershed in eastern Shasta County as well as in parts of Siskiyou, Lassen and Modoc counties.

In Shasta County, the two main groups were the Ajumawi, who lived in and around the Fall River Valley, and the Atsuegewi, who lived primarily in the Hat Creek area.

Historians say the name "pit" may have derived from the way early European settlers saw the bands digging traps to catch game.

Before Europeans came to colonize the area, the tribes often were victims of slaving raids from the fierce Klamath and Modoc tribes from the north. Like many Indians, they were devastated by diseases early Spanish and American explorers inadvertently carried with them, according to historians.

By the time of the Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, when thousands of gold-hungry settlers moved east to California, diseases already had decimated the tribe. That didn't stop some from fighting back, often with devastating consequences.

"Whenever the Indians did something, the whites came after them fivefold," said Dottie Smith, a Shasta County historian. "In the very beginning, they never had a chance."

Smith described one such attack in the Fall River Valley in a column published this summer in the Record Searchlight. In 1855, a group of settlers moved to the valley. The following year, they attempted to build a ferry crossing on the Pit River. The tribe's warriors attacked, killing two men, dismembering and mutilating their bodies.

The whites responded by gathering dozens for an armed militia.

"The massacre started as soon as they arrived in the valley," Smith wrote, citing historical documents. "Every village they found was attacked. At one village, over 100 Indian people were killed by rifle, pistols and knives. They were left lying heaped together about their lodges."

In later raids, whites bragged about taking scalps and cutting off tribe members' ears as trophies, Smith wrote. Later, whites used strychnine to poison flour left out for starving Indians to eat.

Whites also stole Indian children and gave them to white families, Smith said. Most of tribe members who were left were forced onto reservations.

Historians like Smith estimate there were some 3,000 Ajumawi alone in 1800. By 1936, there were just 500.

It was similar elsewhere on Pit River lands, said Cindy La Marr, director of the Sacramento-based Capitol Area Indian Resources, Inc. La Marr is a Pit River Indian from the Susanville area who shares Paiute ancestry.

She said a UC Berkeley anthropologist traveled to Pit River lands in the early 1920s and stayed with her grandfather's family.

The anthropologist wrote of tribe members describing white people heading to church on Sunday and then going out to kill Indians.

"Pit Rivers brought in $5 a head," La Marr said. "That was quite a bit back then."

La Marr said the men who weren't killed lost what self-value they had, and they had to rely on the federal government for rations to keep their families alive.

She said languages and traditions were outlawed or beaten out of children.

"My grandmother recalled that as a child she saw the first white people come into the area," La Marr said. "They were fearful because they knew it meant death. This is not ancient history."

The lingering animosity between the tribe and the whites boiled over in the late 1960s and early 1970s, during a national movement in which Indians across the country tried to reclaim their ancestral lands.

The most famous of the national protests began on Nov. 20, 1969, when a group of Indians occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco for nearly two years.

In an effort to reclaim 3.4 million acres of ancestral land, the Pit River tribe members followed suit and began holding occupations of their own, including on Pacific Gas and Electric property near Big Bend and on U.S. Forest Service land near Burney.

In 1970, about 100 Indians, including men, women and children, occupied a piece of forest land near the "four-corners" intersection of highways 299 and 89, five miles east of Burney.

Although the Indians claimed the land was theirs, the U.S. Forest Service held legal ownership of the site.

The Indians built a Quonset hut on site and told authorities, they'd "have to be killed" if authorities went to tear it down, according to news reports from the time.

On Oct. 27, 1970, 52 armed officers, including federal agents, state troopers and sheriff's deputies, converged on the site with more than 50 Forest Service personnel, many of whom carried crowbars.

The authorities claimed they were there to arrest people on warrants charging them with illegal timber cutting and to demand the Indians tear down the hut, but he Indians said later in trial testimony the force was sent with one mission: to "break the back" of the tribe's effort to reclaim their lands.

News reports describe an all-out melee when authorities began tearing down the hut and wrestling with the Indians who tried to stop them.

Indians, both men and women, fought with bare fists, tree limbs and planks of lumber. Officers and sheriff's deputies swung billy clubs and sprayed mace.

In the end, more than two dozen Indians were arrested, but only one, who pleaded guilty to a lesser assault charge, actually served any sort of a sentence for the alleged assaults on officers.

The rest had their charges dismissed or were acquitted after a nearly two-month federal trial.

"At Four Corners, the Indian people felt they gained a little bit of ground," said Beverly Benner Ogle, a 70-year-old Indian historian from Paynes Creek, who traces part of her lineage to the Atsugewi.

There were other, less-violent occupations, confrontations and arrests in the few years that followed.

"It was a statement to the federal government that Pit River people had never agreed to the taking of ancestral lands," La Marr said. "This was a big statement and caught the eyes of the nation. This was a tribe who stood up for what it believed in and could not be bought."

The tribe's lawyers also fought in court in failed bids to sue to reclaim their ancestral lands.

The tribe lingered largely in poverty over the following decades.

Then, in the mid-1990s, the tribe followed the lead of dozens of other California Indian groups and built a small casino outside Burney.

Construction started in 1996.

Before the groundbreaking, the casino was billed by tribal leaders as a way to bring much-needed revenue to the Indians and to the Burney area.

The tribe's official website has just one item on it under the "history" section, an online video news clip from 1970 showing a tribal lawyer describing to a reporter why the tribe decided to take over PG&E property.

"It has always been their land," he says.

What Is the Tribal Position on Hatchet Mtn Wind Energy? Do All Tribes Oppose Green Energy?

Burney jury still out on Hatchet Ridge
(from redding.com)

A band of wind turbines 6½ miles long towers over Burney.

The 44 turbines on Hatchet Ridge once were the topic of fierce debate in the small eastern Shasta County town, where lines were drawn between people who wanted to see jobs and economic benefits from construction and people who didn’t want blighted views and worried about danger to birds and other wildlife.

Now, just months after the turbine project was completed, those complaints seem to have faded.

“I have to be quite honest with you,” said David Larson, 70, of Burney, one of the project’s staunchest opponents. “There’s not the discussion I thought there would be. Everybody’s kind of accepted the whole project,” he said.

“I really thought people would be more upset than they are.”

The turbines began full delivery of power to Pacific Gas and Electric last month, said Denny Boyles, a PG&E spokesman.

The 103-megawatt project will supply enough electricity annually to power 50,000 homes, he said. PG&E is buying all of it, he added. He declined to say how much the company is paying.

A new ridge

There’s no doubt that the turbines changed the look of Hatchet Ridge, which forms Burney’s western skyline.

“They dominate the landscape from downtown,” said Ken Archuleta, 64, of Burney.

Archuleta, as was Larson, was part of Save the Burney Skyline, a grass-roots group that tried to block the project. The group’s key concern was how the turbines might ruin the natural beauty of the ridge above town. He’s worried now that wind power companies will build more.

“I’m just afraid that there’s another one and another one,” he said.

Warren Messick, the facility manager at Hatchet Ridge, has a different view. He said the turbines are a way to enjoy the scenery, for him at least.

He said his previous two jobs were in Southern California and Kansas at two places defined by flatland. Now his project is on a ridge with views of Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak.

“It’s kind of the envy of the wind industry,” he said.

Money and jobs

The turbines are bringing money and some jobs to Burney.

Pattern Energy of San Francisco gave $2 million last year — $1 million to Shasta County and $500,000 each to the Burney Chamber of Commerce, which passed the money to the Shasta Regional Community Foundation, and an education fund, said Russ Mull, director of resource management for Shasta County.

And for the next 20 years the company will give the county $100,000 annually and $25,000 per year to the Burney Regional Community Fund and Burney-Fall River Education Foundation.

Mull said the county hasn’t spent any of its share yet and is holding it in a savings account until there’s enough to pay for a new or remodeled building that will house the town’s library and county offices.

“The board has put it on hold with the understanding that there isn’t enough money yet,” he said.

How much the building will cost depends on its design and how many offices it holds. The building likely will cost $300 per square foot, said Pat Minturn, public works director. That could put the price in the millions. “It gets quite expensive,” he said.

As for jobs, the biggest benefactor around Burney has been Hat Creek Construction, which helped build the project and now is working to keep its maintenance road clear of snow.

“It’s provided a lot of work,” said Perry Thompson, vice president at Hat Creek. “We’ve been working there on and off for three years.”

When construction was in full swing the company had 40 or more workers doing tree clearing, building roads and creating pads for the turbines.

In all, the project provided the company about $15 million of work, Thompson said.

But Hatchet Ridge created fewer than a dozen permanent jobs, and all but one of those went to a local resident. The workers mostly moved in from outside the north state.

Pattern employs two people at the project, said Pattern spokeswoman Beth O'Brien: the facility manager, Messick, and an assistant manager, Larry Pruitt. Pruitt previously worked at Burney Forest Power, she said, while Messick worked at other wind projects around the country before moving to the north state to work at Hatchet Ridge.

Siemens, the German company that built the turbines, has eight workers at the project doing maintenance and troubleshooting. Of the eight, four live in Redding, three in Burney and one in Fall River Mills, said Monika Wood, Siemens spokeswoman.

But she didn’t know if those employees were from the north state or if they moved from elsewhere to fill the positions.

Sacred land and danger to birds

American Indians who protested the turbines and threatened lawsuits say the project destroyed a sacred site on Hatchet Ridge.

“You can’t replace it,” said Radley Davis, who was a part of the Advocates for the Protection of Sacred Sites.

He said he’s disappointed in the county’s leadership for approving the project and he’s ready to oppose any more wind power development.

Along with desecrating the land, the turbines are a danger to birds, opponents say. “They will be killing eagles and other birds in that area,” said Louise Davis, a councilwoman with the Istawi Band of the Pit River Tribe.

Pattern, the state Department of Fish and Game and the local Audubon Society chapter set up an advisory committee focused on monitoring bird mortality at Hatchet Ridge. The company hired an environmental consultant to watch for birds killed by the big blades.

“Absolutely no fatalities have been found to date during the surveys,” said Matt Dallas, Pattern spokesman.


http://www.redding.com/news/2011/jan/16/burney-jury-still-out-hatchet-ridge/

Regional- Modoc Tribe Seeks Split From Klamath Tribes

via- Mercury News

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.—The recently created Modoc Nation, a group of Modoc Indians attempting to break away from the Klamath Tribes, is working to create its legitimacy among other Indian tribes and government agencies.
"How we become recognized is that we begin acting and behaving as what we truly are, a nation," said Perry Chesnut, the Modocs' secretary of state. "We're going to end up with a brighter future for our people."

Earlier this summer, Modocs—including several who are enrolled members of the Klamath Tribes, which includes Klamaths, Modocs and Yahooskins—declared their independence from the Klamath Tribes. Chesnut said nearly 100 adults, including 30 enrolled Klamaths, have obtained voting memberships.

Until the Modoc Nation is formally recognized and receives federal benefits, Chesnut said, Modocs are being instructed not to withdraw as members of the Klamath Tribes.

Chesnut said the split reflects 146 years of oppression by the Klamaths, including events that caused Modocs led by Captain Jack to leave the Klamath Reservation and begin the spiral of events that led to the Modoc War in 1872-73. He said differences between Modocs and Klamaths have persisted since then.

"There was no hope," he said of divisions between Klamaths and Modocs. "The Modocs are just a captive group."

Spokesmen for the Klamath Tribes declined to comment.

Efforts preparing for the split have been ongoing for about two years. In declaring their independence, Modoc Nation leaders said they are already a federally recognized tribe but claimed they have been under the "oppressive yoke of the Klamath government."

Unlike the Klamaths, who require enrollees be at least one-quarter Klamath, Modoc or Yahooskin, Chesnut said the Modoc Nation has other standards, primarily based on lineal descent from a Modoc.

"That's a road to extinction as a tribe," he said of the one-quarter qualification, noting the Modocs will provide a genealogist and three-member citizenship committee to help determine eligibility.

M. Sean Manion will head an economic development committee to develop a self-sufficiency plan. During a meeting to discuss creating a separate tribe last fall, several said the Klamaths who have historically significantly outnumbered Modocs refused to pursue viable economic development programs.

Chesnut said a goal of the Modoc Nation is to become completely self-sufficient in 15 years and end any reliance on federal funding. He said the only desired long-range relationship will be to ensure the Modocs' hunting, fishing, gathering and trapping rights are recognized.

"We want to be independent," he said. "We don't mind working for what we get."

Chesnut said the Modocs have already established diplomatic relationships with other tribes, including the Pit River and Yahooskin, and are actively pursing recognition from other tribes.

Efforts are also being made to have the Modoc Nation recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Modoc's have made contact with environmental agencies and sent in comments to federal and state agencies on matters affecting Indian tribes.

The Modocs' legislative members tentatively plan to meet in Klamath Falls in September and, Chesnut said, will request to meet with Klamath Tribes leaders "so we can both move forward in harmony and without conflict. We don't have to have an adversarial relationship with the Klamaths."

SWF Rewind- Wintu Tribal Elections Fraud

The Wintu Tribe of Northern California has operated a non-profit organization since 1993 after thier incorporation as a tribal 501.3 (c) status entity seven years after the closure of Toyon Wintu Center in 1987. The current Wintu Tribe is represnted in its incorporated capacity by the tribally elected governing body, known as the Wintu Tribal Council. Consisting of 12 elected Wintu Members, they are elected on staggered terms.

Annual elections for the Wintu Tribe/ Toyon Wintu Tribe historically have been public knowlege and thier candidates and results reguarly published in Redding area publications like the Record Searchlight, currently an E.W. Scripps Co. owned conseravtive based news source that continues to shun the focus of media attention on the Wintu Tribe or its varied issues, in favor of the more economically contributive Redding Rancheria (RR). The RR also based in Redding and established Win- River Casino a lucritive native american gaming faciltiy in operation since 1990. The gaming revenue generated by Win- River Casino, however, does not benfit the larger Wintu Tribe, in which, ancestral territory the quasi alien Win-River Casino lies. The RR contibutes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the State of California every year, tens of thousands of dollars to the Newspaper annualy, partially, it is alleged. to supress the plight of the Wintu People. The cumulative generated contributory asset revenue capacity to the state and other agencies generated by Win-River (and the RR)since its opening is estimated to be in excess of $180,000,000 (180 million) US dollars (Root- Wintu Demograph- 1998), while the Wintu Tribe remains landless and without federal aknowlegement.

It has come to the attention of Stop Wintu Fraud Editors that a small group of Wintu Members were disenrolled from the Toyon Wintu Tribe/ Wintu Tribe of Northern California's tribally prepared "base roll", that has not yet been approved by the secreatry of the interior (BIA). Carol Sinclair, Wintu Elder and Cultural Resourse Director for the tribe for the last two decades, was disenrolled as a result of the actions of the tribal council and its enrollment committee shortly after the 2003 Wintu Tribal Elections along with 10 other individuals. These 11 Wintu have become known as the Wintu 11. Ms. Sinclair has gone on record as stating it was following provocation, her and another unidentified Wintu Tribal member concurrently serving on the Wintu Tribe Enrollment Committee began to bring questions to the Tribal Council as to enrollment proceedures, and tribal election proceedures, and brought fourth allegations of vote tampering by the 2002 Tribal Council member Linda Malone, and Carol Martin. Vote tampering allegations that include Ms. Sinclair, "... watching Linda throw ballots out (of the ballot box) and onto the floor, and in the trash...". Taking place in June 2002 at the old Wintu Tribal office at the end of the Downtown Mall on Placer St. in Redding. This is alleged to have occoured in front of Womens Leagure of Voters Officials present to provide oversite to the Tribal Election by an unbiased outside body. But whether or not the League recognises the Results or these Election Officials, or the Officials identities has yet to be verified by Stop Wintu Fraud. Other Tribal members that voted in person in 2003 reported seeing the, "... grey haired non-indian ladies in a seprerate room form the voting chambers...", that were, "...tallying ballots with Carol Martin and Linda Malone present."

In an attempt to assure the intergrity of the vote Sinclair and another un-named Tribal Member tried and failed to gain larger tribal support for recount and later recall of the tribal council in 2004. Actions of which are legal proceedures outlined in the Wintu Constitution. These Individuals were bothat the time of the incident serving on the Wintu Election Committee and serving as Election Officers at the proceedings, and were told ot leave while the "illegal" election proceed. The election results saw the Encumbants all being re-elected, some for the 5 and 6th terms consecutively, reigns of tribal leadership that lasted for over 15 years in some cases. Gary Rickard, a progressive, was elected chairman as a result of this vote while some traditionalists, like Loretta Root, lost by small margins.

The tribal council at that time (1998-2006) has come to be known as the Curl-Malone Board which was responsible for several attemts at violations of the tribal members rights inclding political convolution with the WWO (winnemem wintu organization), seeking to reduce the tribal roll (dis-enroll) by more than 350 people, and passing a illeaglly written document as the 2003 interim Wintu Constitution, an attmept by the former CILS attourney, Mary Risling, to draft controls into the Wintu Constitution. Controls that would have enabled the Curl-Malone Board to violate various former tribal member rights that are guarenteed by former Toyon Constitution. The governing document by which the tribe had been operating, albeit sporadically, since the closure of the facilities at Toyon by the BIA in 1987. The rule-change violations alleged in the secific rights vioaltions include the language "...right to deprive of life propertry or liberty without prior notice...", and the heavily suspect language that attempted to hand the WWO power to control all of the tribes archaeological and spiritual resourses. The language was removed by a majority vote of tribal members in 2003, denoucing the Curl-Malone Board and its memebers ability and future goal, in capacity to regain the sole rights to the use of the lands at Toyon Wintu Center.

The Wintu 11 are a small numer of California Indians in comparison to the other 2000+ tribal disenrollments statewide California's Gaming Tribes have seen in the last several years, but the lack of civil rights enforcement quite equal. 57 members of the Foreman Family were also disenrolled from the Redding Rancheria, a scandal which recieved national media attention, the Wintu 11 and the the Disenrollments of 2003 by the Wintu Tribe's enrollment committee members in contrast has seen no media attention to this day.

Allegations of illegal tribal elections, tribal voter fraud, illegal use of the identity of the Womens League of Voters by the Wintu Enrollment Committee, Wintu Constitution and Wintu Election Ordanance violations, vioaltions of the Brown Act, Violations of Civil Rights, Illegal Seizure of Tribal Assetts without CFR Probate, are just some of the Allegations that are coming to light as a result of inquests by Stop Wintu Fraud contributors.

Stop Wintu Fraud is seeking Contributors on Wintu Rights Violations, you can email stopwintufraud@gmail.com for information on how to contribute to the exsposure of Wintu Fraud.

Wintu Elder Carol Sinclair Passes

Carol Sinclair- Born December 29. 1943, passed away July 26, 2010.
Carol is survived by her son John Neely and his wife Laura; daughter Lisa Chapman; grandchildren Jeff Henderling, Sean Neely, Dylan Neely, and Cody Chapman II; great granddau...ghter Vivienne Neely; many aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends; and her horses Mytar and Fury; dogs Beowolf and Little Bear; and cats Ivan and Rascal.
Carol grew up in Redding and was always very active. As a youth, she enjoyed pitching women's fast pitch softball, working on her cars, spelunking, and caring for her many animals.
After marriage, Carol and her family moved to Eureka. While in Eureka working and raising her children, Carol began a lifelong relationship with and love for horses. When Carol returned to Redding, her horses came as well.
Carol was an active member of the horse community and was called on frequently for her expertise. Carol was also an avid supporter, educator, and advocate for her Wintu heritage.
Though she is no longer with us in the flesh, she will continue to guide and support us in spirit. She will truly be missed.
A graveside service will be held on August 7th at 10 a.m. at the Black Canyon Cemetery located at 4500 Boca St., Shasta Lake City (Central Valley) followed by a Celebration of Life and potluck at the Win River Rancheria.
Much gratitude to Hospice for helping mom and us through this most difficult time.

SWF Rewind- The Wintu Factions Have to Unite in Order to Recieve Federal Acknowledgment?

(photo changed- new photo- Sampson & Cat, Nom-Ti-Pom Wintu, photo taken at La Moine)


Think about what our families miss out on by continuing to not Unify Twards Recognition. What could we potentially loose if the Wintu leaders fail to unify us?

So here some of us still are. 2008. A long time since the BIA instated the Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA) thru federal CFR regulations to review BAR petitions from Tribes claiming to be modern conglomerations of Wintu surviving 1800's genocide and removal to reservations. In 1984, when our petitions were initially announced to Interior, the various Wintu leaders, that that time, Ray Patton for the Central Valley Wintun, Gloria Gomez for the Wintu of Shasta, Ed Grant for the Wintun of Cottonwood and also Ray Patton for the Nor Rel Muk Nation. We thank these honorable Wintu people for their fore site.
This week the BIA/ Asst. Secretary of the Interior published in the Federal Register an unprecedented OFA Notice attempting to supply "Guidance and Direction Regarding Internal Procedures" for OFA personnel review tribal applications. In the Notice, dated May 23, 2008, the Asst. Secretary of the Interior Carl Artman, referenced several issues that are sure to have wide ranging impacts on the several groups seeking acknowledgement currently thru BAR representing the Northern Wintu Tribe. New direction from the Asst. Sect'y Artman that includes what Interior has now termed as, "managing recurring administrative and technical problems in processing petitions for Federal acknowledgment.

In the recent past Interior has come under scrutiny from national tribal leaders and tribal rights watch groups, and the national media, arising concern for tribes, that the current nature of the BAR review process has become overbearing on tribes seeking acknowledgement thru Interior. And that specifically the Interior has violated Trust Responsibilities to hundreds of thousands of American Indians, that are currently members of Non-federally recognised tribes, who's members could be currently be benefiting from federal assets to benefit their welfare, like health, education, and housing, but have been left with-out Trust services in denial and termination of thei Trust responsibility of the Federal Government towards the tribal members. Some tribes like our own Wintu, have been waiting for longer than two decades.


In that time our members have seen our reservation at Toyon closed and our members forcefully removed (1987), another tribe re-acknowledged (Redding Rancheria 1983) in our traditional territory, including members of tribes not from the Shasta Trinity County area, then a casino was built in the Wintu name with millions in revenue sharing to the state of California with no benefit to the Wintu members to this day (Win-River Casino 1990-present), and more recently as a result of inter-tribal disputes the "splintering" of tribal families into separate factions claiming control of the Wintu people as a whole. Yes, unfortunately for the members caught in the middle of tribal leadership disputes where very few get anything of grant monies and everyone else in the tribe is left to guess whats going on... tribal governments without representation for tribal members, or equal rights against tribal governments gone mad, and no legal recourse even as Not for profit organizations as County and State courts have repeatedly referenced Santa Clara v. Martinez where tribal sovereignty trumps the governments rights to interfere in inter-tribal disputes, this all despite California being a PL 280 where the Wintu Tribe resides, delegating authority to the state attorney general, and also despite the State of California declaring authority to excercise Illegal Taxation of California tribal lands thru the Gaming Revenue Agreements forced upon California Tribes by the California Governors Office.
Contradictory leadership from the non-Indians to say the least. More accurately these recent events have proven to be for the Wintu, Double-handed legislation eminent of the Old 1851 Ash Creek Treaty days, where we as Indians have no re-course, no representation.
To the knowledge of Stop Wintu Fraud Editors it is the first time that Interior has officially used the term "splinter" to define in the Federal Register the fracturing of tribal memberships, for various reasons unique to each occasion. A good example of why federal statues rarely fit into real day Tribal issues like the "splintering of the Wintu", the new CFR Notice Recommendations and Direction does nothing to actually assist the tribe in resolution of any type to inter-tribal/ band disputes. Disputes that would be better clarified with the direct assistance and approval of the Interior and Regional Directors working in concert for the tribe to speed conflict resolution and complete applications, and move on to review to reduce back-log of the List of Tribes waiting for recognition which is now over 310 tribes waiting for review decisions.
It has been calculated by this Stop Wintu Fraud editor that of the 310+ tribes waiting for review thru OFA/ BAR, 32% of the tribes listed today in the Register are in some way Duplicate tribes that potentially would benefit by complying with interior's wishes , that in the name of speeding the process, tribes are to both resolve inter-tribal disputes and stop fracturing of tribal groups from single former petitioning groups into rival petitioners that would potentially, to interior create (and are creating) at least some of the back log.
Is the back long caused by tribes? No. Are tribes being forced to suffer "negative determinations" as a result of awry tribal leaders gone astray that no longer think in the tribal general memberships best interests. Here in the Notice today, Interior has gone beyond past mis-statements towards us as trustees, that the splintering of tribal groups should result in the tribe not receiving assistance in the BAR process, nor receive acknowledgement as a result of the splintering Interior has defined today as,


In the more than 29 years that the Department's acknowledgment regulations have
been in effect, the Department has confronted a number of recurring issues in
the administration of the regulations including: the emergence of splinter
groups;... opportunities for streamlining the process
through expedited decisions against acknowledgment and decisions against
acknowledgment on fewer than all seven criteria; the handling of questionable
submissions; and designation of ``inactive'' status.


The idea that Interior is now, in 2008, 26 years into the OFA process, attempting to penalize tribes for excericising the Federal Right to be Self-Determinative of our futures and our right to Self-Governance as American Indians to dissolve and formulate tribal identity as tribal members see fit here has been diminished in interiors attempts to, "opportunities for streamlining the process through expedited decisions against acknowledgment and decisions against acknowledgment." Really whats being said to tribes is if your tribes splits up, we'll use that against you now. Also in the Notice Interior states for its OFA personnel that past "Conflicts within a petitioning group that result in multiple and conflicting claims to leadership hamper the ability of OFA to communicate and conduct its business with the group when OFA cannot identify a single governing body as the point of contact with the group." Here BIA is stating, "hey, if you make it harder on us (your trustor) by splintering into contradictory factions we will use it against you (the potential trustee). In a possible violation of trust relations, and certainly in an attempt to limit the size of tribes acknowledged in the future, and there bye limiting the trust responsibility of the federal government to assets held in the name of our people, without representation as to the resources use historically, therefore is interpreted here to be potentially a undue and illegal termination of trust responsibilities to hundreds of thousands of non-federalised Americans Indians, not just the Wintu.


A note for our pseudo-leaders, Wade, Gene, and Linda. Dis-enrolling people from the tribe was, and never will be the answer to what you cannot accomplish alone. You your self's actually amount to a splinter group when you applied as the Toyon by OUR 1993 deadline. And again when you Malone's wanted remove all the Central Valley people back in 2003. Why was that again, oh yeah, because you don't "like" Gloria Gomez. A real Wintu leader would can the bullshit set your personal differences aside and work for the good of all the Wintu, not just your pitiful family. Perhaps you begin to see that everyone around you when they become involved are forced to see your strangle-hold on the tribal government thru illegal elections every year. You can't have both tribes (Toyon and the Wintu Tribe), tribal members see for themselves the tribal council stop the Wintu meeting and then have the Not for profit meeting separate. Ask questions Wintu members, find out for yourselves why the general members aren't on the not for profit list but they have a separate general council listing for members? And the way they have it currently structured by the careful help of Non-Wintu CILS attorney Mary Risling, and this was only the Curl and Malone descendants will benefit from any monetary revenue from the tribe in the future? Read your Constitution. 33% to constitute a majority? Well from the 91 members base roll that's almost exactly the percentage of the 17 member extended family Curl-Malone Voting Block.


If theirs nothing wrong with the way the tribe is currently being run then why did Caleen Sisk leave the Curl-Malone Board to formulate the Traditional Winnmem? Why did Jill leave the Curl- Malone group? Why did Loretta Root leave the Curl Malone Ground? Why did 350 other Wintu leave to join United Bands after you illegally adopted your likewise illegally drafted Curl-Malone Wintu of Northern California Interim Constitution in 2003 by a vote, to small, to exact it. Ask the Nor-el-muk, the wintu from Trinity County, if they'll have anything to do with the Curl-Malone Board? Why did Gloria Gomez stick with the Central Valley Wintu after your family, in the name of your fraudulent tribe, drag her into court back in 1997-1998? It wasn't because you actually picketed in front of her private residence that year.... ya' think? And why would a single member who regained salmon harvesting rights on his own and fished for 6 years using traditional methods without assistance from the tribe, then be threatened with dis-enrollment after being nominated for Wintu Tribal Council?


Internal conflicts aside, the Wintu- interband disputes of our tribe have been addressed by attorneys representing us (as early as 2001), and now have been addressed by the Department of the Interior, and their position on "splintering" of petitioning groups is clear, if any ambiguity existed before surrounding duplicate petitions doomed for negative determinations, duplicate petitioners will not receive assistance or acknowledgement.


To absolve the Wintu bands is easy, the only obstacle to our rapid progression and eventual recognition is just a lot of power tripping old people that have entertained a false sense of control over the tribal membership for so long that it seem the leaders won't even won't take their finger off the button, and resolve petty differences for the good of the people.


The link to the notice from the Assistant Secretary of the Interior on Current Splinter groups:


Federal Register 5/23/08

Redding Rancheria Tribe Buys More Land, Wintu Tribe Still Homeless

Redding Rancheria Tribe Buys More Land, Wintu Tribe Still Homeless

By Matt Root- Wintu & Karuk, Redding, Ca 1/24/10

Background- The Redding Rancheria (hereafter RR) exists on 38.89 acres in South Redding, next the Anderson Cottonwood Irrigation Canal (ACID Canal). Established by the Federal Government in 1922, the Redding Rancheria, today has only 127 adult members(following the 2004 Tribal disenrollments of 57 members of the Foreman Family (Pit River), former members of the RR). The RR Tribe Operates Win-River Casino, a Native American Gaming Operation, established in violation of NRGA statutes, out side of the Pit River tribes traditional territory. The Tribe by which a majority of RR members trace their blood lineage.

The Wintu Tribe, following the violent cultural standoff at Toyon Wintu Center, (Formerly know as Government Camp), in 1987, that pitted local homeless Wintu Indians against State Marshall's, the FBI, the Department of the Interior, the BIA and Local Officials and Police/ Sheriffs, Wintu People were removed from their homes, and federal reservation, after a long armed stand-off, remain homeless today, and politically fractured since this unfortunate racially motivated event perpetuated upon the Wintu Members, 23 years ago. Author age 8 years old when Toyon was closed and our homes bulldozed to the ground a week later by D-9 Cats emblazoned with BIA crests.

2 Years later, in 1989, the City of Redding and the State of California, cut a gaming deal with the Redding Rancheria, to establish a gaming operation on their 38 acre Clear Creek Reservation (today's Redding Rancheria). And a minority of out of town Indians rose to power, and the actual Wintu people continue to linger with no federal aid, and no realized promises of "Self-Governance", guaranteed in the 1970's by the Nixon Administration, and still no "Self-Reliance", guaranteed us by state law in 1990.

But the Redding Rancheria continues to grow. In reprehencable defiance of the true Wintu people of this land. Certainly in indifference, and denial of our existence and legal claim to this land. The Wintu Leaders having been the signer's of the 1851 Treaty at Cottonwood Creek, NOT the Pit River, who were party in a separate Treaty a year later in 1852. (see XL Reservation)

So it took former Police Chief Blankenship and the McConnell Foundation (regionalnot for profit grantor supreme, and beneficiary of Redding Rancheria "contributions") to seal the deal on the flat land below the new Redding Rancheria Hilton Hotel next to Interstate 5 at South Bonnyview Road in Redding, Ca. Despite the RR having destroyed Wintu sites in their development, and there being a MOU in place with the City of Redding to protect our history from destruction by development. In denial of the Wintu Tribes existence or legal claim to this land, our Traditional Territory. And in spite of the federal governments ability to recognise us in a timely manner. And after waiting thirty (30) years for a descsision on our petititons for recognition, we continue to linger, many members in squalid conditions throughout the tribes Territory. While the minority of Indians profit, lavishly.

The RR Hilton Hotel which was built in 2004-5, destroyed a massive Wintu archaeological site, a former historical habitation location for the Wintu Tribe. This sites historical locus, included a stratigraphic component revealing where Wintu People were allowed to live, in common, with ranchers of the area around 1870-1890. A rare occurrence in 19th century Shasta County. The site that was destroyed to make way for the Rancheria Tribes Hotel expansion, and the loss is of vast historical significance to the Wintu tribe, and its members today. Several Wintu families trace their lineage to the pre-historic archaeological site, that Anthropologists estimate have hosted some 3-600 permanent Wintu occupants in over 80 aboriginal homes.

The modern political entity of the Wintu Tribe, the actual tribe, in which the federated RR continues to expand and build with-in, today is fractured between 5 differing Non-Federally Recognised Tribes. A legal status that both hinders the fractured groups ability to protect the site. But also hinders the non-recognised tribes ability to represent the interests of the Wintu archaeological site, and the remains of close relatives interred there, to the state of California. Potentially protecting it from the ruthless economic development of the Redding Rancheria. RR having destroyed Wintu sites repeatedly in their quest for economic expansion. And at the high cost of Wintu history, and in disregard for the hundreds of Wintu that live here today, and in mis-use of our identity as Wintu Indians. The RR also claims Wintu Lineage of official BIA documents, the Pit River members being a majority at RR, and the majority members being Pit River Indians by Blood Quantum.

Donald V. Slaughter Sr.

Donald V. Slaughter Sr. May 8, 1924 - December 27 2009
Life long Shasta County resident, Donald V. Slaughter Sr. passed away peacefully at his home in Anderson on Sunday, December 27, 2009. He was 85 years old. He was born to George T. and Myrtle A. (Fann) Slaughter near Churn Creek in Shasta County on May 8, 1924. He attended school in Anderson and graduated from Anderson High School where he was a distinguished swimmer and baseball player.
Don enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II and served his country honorably, along with his older brothers Rudolph and Reginald.
Don was one of the first Eagle Scouts in Shasta County and became an assistant Scout Master as well,
After the service he worked as a laborer, sheet metal worker. He eventually worked for PG&E, Ralph L. Smith Lumber Company, Kimberly-Clark Corp., and Roseburg Lumber. He retired after 38 years in the lumber business. He worked with local V.A. offices ordering and setting grave markers for veterans who did not have them. For others, he designed, constructed and placed cement markers in many cemeteries.
Donald is survived by Frances (Hardin), his wife of 62 years, his daughter Christina V. Yoder (Jay) of Elk Grove, CA, his son Donald V. Slaughter, Jr. of Redding, CA, his beloved grandchildren; Scott, Nicole, Rachael, Daniel and Donald III, and two great grandchildren. He is also survived by his three sisters; Christina A. Slape of Napa, CA, Adeline Jane Bowers of White City, OR and Patricia Buck of Redding, CA.
Viewing will be today Thursday, December 31, 9-5 p.m. Service will be held on Monday, January 4, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. both at Allen & Dahl in Palo Cedro. Internment will be at Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo, at 2:00 p.m.

A reception will be held at the Win River Casino Community Room from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Disgruntled Academia- WWO Leaves Trail of Pissed of Scientists in their Wake

Hello,

I recently read your blogspot about the fraud of Caleen Sisk Franco and the WWO. As a history graduate student a few years ago, I believe I fell victim to this fraud when working on my thesis project. The thesis was on the experience of the Wintu with the construction of Shasta Dam. I eventually had a shortened version of my thesis published in an Ethnic Studies journal following review by an editorial staff that including several Native American professors from Sacramento State University.

I cannot claim Indian heritage, however the injustices that the Wintu suffered in the face of the Central Valley Project were appalling to me. Mark and Caleen Sisk Franco, although they agreed to be interviewed initially, never took interest in my project after the paper was finalized and published. This seemed odd when I felt I had uncovered some significant historical information that might be pertinent to their legal case.

I write in part because I wish that my paper/research comes to some benefial use for legitimate Wintu tribal members. I'd appreciate if you could contact me by Email so I might learn more about who you are and perhaps send you a copy of the paper.

Sincerely,
[snip]
Cultural Historian

SWF Rewind- Wintu Band Unity- If The Pit River Can Do It, We Can Do It

(map) Pit River Bands and Ancestral Territory


As seen in other tribal petitions where the tribal membership is either duplicate or representative of the same prehistoric tribal group recognition has been denied repeatedly thru the BAR process of recognition at BIA. As recently at November 2007 the Juaneno tribe had a negative determination handed down on their petition because several years previous to the final review as a result of tribal matters the tribe split, much like the Wintu Bands Today, into sepreate organizations claiming "control" of the membership rolls, and future administration of the tribal government. Around 1997 the Juaneno, a tribe from southern california that also have been on the list waiting for a descision on their application for recognition thru Interior's BAR process for over 20 years, split into two groups that became knows as Juaneno 1 and Juaneno 2. The Interior dep't declared a "NO" descision after the membership rolls were found to be duplicate, and the membership criteria innacurate and differing from interior historical documents, and the tribal governments not following proceedures outlined in tribal governance documents. All Wintu elders know that the band members are scattered throughout the modern tribal poltical entities that all claim the same thing, governance of the Wintu People.

In 1984 the Pit River Tribe (constitution) was recognised under the Reagan (R, CA)administration, and at that time were able to consoldate inter-bands interests for the good of the members to gain federal recognition, I'm not saying everything is smooth up in Burney, or Bieber, or Alturas, but they did it, now they have housing, they have a gaming facility, while we have spent the last 30 years watching with Toyon closed, no federal funding, no community and no guarentee for education for our children or jobs for our members, and without a land base members are found in substandard housing without any response whatsoever from the BIA.

Lets get together for the Elections 2008 and vote in members to the tribal council that will take steps tward, what the CILS attourneys have told us five years ago was the only was to a BAR final detirmination, to resolve the intertribal disputes between the seperate bands of Wintu, and move foreward for recognition for the entire tribe! Cuz if the Pit River can do it, So Can We!


* article written for SWF by Matt Root (Wintun) in February 2008.

Mary Jane Stevenson June 2 1920- December 3, 2009

Mary Jane Stevenson

June 2, 1920 - December 3, 2009

Mary Stevenson is survived by one sister Frances "Babe" Slaughter of Anderson, CA., niece Mary Hamilton of Eagle Point, OR, nephew Everett Easley of Milwaukie, OR and several other nieces and nephews.

Mary was born at Silverthorne Ferry near Copper City. She was a domestic housekeeper for 25 years. She belonged to the Historical Society of Redding, was a member of the Norel-Muk Band of Wintu Tribe, California Native.

Viewing will be Sunday, December 13th from 1-5 p.m.

Services will be Monday, December 14th at 10:15 a.m.
Both are at McDonald's Chapel in Redding.
Reception immediately following will be at Win-River Community Center from 1-5 p.m.

Indy Bay.org Linked to Fraudulent Winnemem Group

In May of 2009, Caleen Sisk lead her Dance Troupe of Wintun, Maidu and Pit River Tribal Members to the State Capitol to "War Dance" her way to a failed attempt at state recognition, and her attempt to circumvent the OFA process by which all 4 other Wintu Tribes have been waiting almost 30 years, since 1983, to pass thru.

Again, on November 20th, the non-Indian Mark Franco again wrongly used the traditional Wintu Title of "Wintu Headman", against traditional Wintu Law and practices. This time, the story was again written by none other than pen man, Dan Bacher, of Indy Bay.org, and online news source from Northern California's Bay Area, online Indy Bay News, a news source that has attached itself to critical water allocation, and tradional native resources thru fraudulent culture clubs, claiming to represent modern Indian Tribes. The Winnemem Wintu Org. that Sisk-Franco manage is NOT one of 309 tribes listed by the Department of the Interior's Office of Federal Acknowlegement. Nor has the WWO ever solicited to the BIA for federal recognition, instead they have repeatedly tried (unsucessfully) to represent the rights of McCloud River Wintu members that have never been associated with the fraudulent WWO organization.

"Caleen Sisk-Franco, the spiritual leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, strongly criticized the Governor’s plan to build a peripheral canal when she opened the second day of the summit... Why are they allowed to buy some sort of right to water in Shasta Lake?” she asked... Mark Franco, Sisk-Franco’s husband and the headman of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, pointed out the sacredness of water in tribal culture."

This man, (Franco) should not be claiming to represent the opinions, culture or history of a tribe he is not a member of and has no historical connection to, and in effect his sources have alerady been proven to manipulate Wintu Culture for personal gain. Nor has Sisk-Franco made any effort for this "Culture Club" to be inclusive to all members, nor are democratic processes held within the groups leadership structure, leading many to question the efficacy in Caleen Sisk-Franco sucession, into the heir-apperent roll of a defacto-Wintu Shaman, after the death of Flora Curl-Jones in 2004. Sisk-Franco have occupied Curl-Jones's land since her death, and wrongly claim it to be a "indian reservation" (federally held trust lands) to local representatives, and state legislators and resource managers, that know litterally nothing about Wintu History. Caleen continues to appear to be the "spiritual leader" and Non's take at her word. SWF accuses that Sisk-Franco manipulate true Wintu culture and hisory, distorting it not only to non-indians who don't know our past, but handing a piece-meal form of our culture to th next generation is another violation of Traditional Wintu Law.

A warning to press outlets. Be aware of what you report. You will be held accountable when the tribe becomes recognised by the federal government and the many, many fraudulent groups claiming to assist Natives in Shasta County will become exsposed to the public. Detractions will be being called for. If your going to report on Native Issues you better do the leg work! Ms. Sisk is not helping the larger issues of water rights, or even salmon harvesting for Wintu Indians, in fact she is going far into the arena where she actually opposes other Wintu Indian people and the other 4 Wintu Tribes that claim to represent all the Wintu people. If any non-indian reporter would just look deeper into this issue it would be clear that intergenerational fueding is being allowed to over shadow the fact that over 1100 wintu indians continue to go with out services from BIA while non-recognised, every leadership panel among the Wintu Groups (Toyon, Wintu or nor cal, United Bands, and WWO, as well as the Nor Rel Muk), all want to administer the funds and be in control when recognisition is handed down. Why then if "leaders" like ms sisk claim to lead us already why is she doing to so poorly? Would you want a dishonest individual controlling your housing or federal health care?

Then don't ask me why this website exists. Wintu members must not stand by and allow the feeble and weakest among us to rise to power without demandiing equality for the membership and oversite from the federal government. It is the only way we will end up recognised and with HONEST LEADERS that will do their best for all of us and not just select family groups, which is nepitism, and is illegal.

Happy Holidays Caleen!