Family expelled from tribe seeks help

 
SANTA ROSA CAHUILLA: A federal bureau, however, says it has no say in the tribe's decision.

September 18, 2004
By HAN KWAK / The Press-Enterprise

The Tortez family on the Santa Rosa Reservation near Anza has lived as members of the tribe for several generations.

Though their faces and names are known around those parts, they are no longer recognized as tribal members.

Margarita Salgado, who is part of the 35-member Tortez family, said they have been wrongly excluded by a tribal council that has broken several rules, including allowing a convicted felon to serve on the council.

Salgado believes the motivation behind her family's exclusion has to do with a state fund for nongaming tribes that could pay each member about $6,000. Her family also had personal confrontations with some council members, she said.

"It's not a popularity contest," Salgado said. "It seems if they don't like you, you're out."

Glen Charos, an attorney representing the Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians, said that about a year ago, the tribal council questioned the blood lineage of the Tortez family, asked for documentation and never received it.

A mailed ballot was sent out to members in July, and the majority voted not to recognize the Tortez family's membership in the tribe, Charos said. Ballots were not sent to the family.

Salgado said she mailed some documentation on April 29, 2003, that provides proof of the family's lineage. The proof can be found in early 20th century census documents, she said.

Salgado herself served on the tribal council throughout the 1990s.

Calls seeking comment from tribal council members this week were not immediately returned.

"It's not normally their custom to discuss tribal matters with the public," Charos said.

The Tortez family has sought help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but bureau officials said the Santa Rosa membership situation is an internal matter for the tribe.

Frances Muncy, tribal operations officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said the bureau does not get involved in individual tribal matters unless the agency's participation is included in the tribal constitution.

"In Santa Rosa's case, we don't have that role," Muncy said, adding she has seen a trend nationwide of tribes disenrolling members as Indian gaming becomes increasingly popular.

Santa Rosa currently doesn't have a constitution and operates by customs and traditions, Muncy said.

The bureau, which has no say in Santa Rosa's memberships, has asked the tribal council to enter mediation to resolve the dispute, Muncy said. The two sides have yet to enter into that option.

Since their exclusion from the tribe, the Tortez family has held protests at the entrance of the reservation and has started a petition to remove the tribal council members.

One tribal council member, Shanna Treen, pleaded guilty to felony cultivation of marijuana in 1991, court documents show. Because of her felony record, Treen should not have been allowed on the council, Salgado said. Treen couldn't be located for comment.

Treen and another council member also did not comply with a required background check, Salgado said.

Charos said all council members underwent a private background check.

With their exclusion the tribe has also tried to evict the Tortez family members from their homes, Salgado said, and the council has campaigned to remove them from tribal jobs and schools.

"We were not given due process," Salgado said, adding that/ the family was kept in the dark throughout the process and was not informed of council meetings in which the issue was discussed.

Other families also have heard rumors that they may have their memberships revoked by the tribe.

"They just go ahead and do whatever they feel like doing," said Virginia Scribner, whose family is rumored to be among those targeted for removal. "I dare them to kick me out of my home."