The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians in Southern California is seeking to drop 10 percent of its members, making them ineligible to receive casino profits amounting to more than $120,000 a year each.
The affected 130 people are fighting to retain their membership, seeking a federal court ruling to prevent individual members of the tribe’s enrollment committee from dumping them. The tribal leaders argue the key ancestor of the group at issue cut her ties with the reservation 80 years ago. They also argue that neither state nor federal courts have the right to intervene.
Each adult member of the Pechanga Band receives up to $10,000 a month in casino profit-sharing checks and other perks from the tribe.
Individual tribes are not compelled to disclose how much money their casinos produce. But the total revenues generated by the 53 tribes in California with casinos is estimated to be about $5 billion.
The Pechanga band is not the only tribe embroiled in disputes over who qualifies to reap the benefits of casino revenues. Before the advent of casinos on reservations, tribal membership was not much of an issue because there were few benefits worth arguing over.
But today, five years after California voters approved the law giving tribes exclusive rights to operate Nevada-style slot machines on their reservations, bloodlines have become increasingly divisive.
In Northern California on Wednesday, the Redding Rancheria cut nearly one-quarter of its membership after a vote of seven tribal council members. The tribal council rejected arguments from the ousted members that DNA tests showed a 99.89 percent probability that they are descended from Virginia Timmons, one of the tribe’s 16 original members.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
