What do the Santa Ynez Valley Band of Chumash Indians have in common with President Donald T-Rump? People like to file lawsuits against them! 

That's pretty much where the commonalities end, though–at least in my opinion. Because unlike the lawsuits filed against our fair-haired old dude in the Oval Office, those that get filed against Santa Barbara County's only federally recognized tribe are generally dismissed as frivolous. On the long list of extremely "concerned" Santa Ynez Valley citizen groups that have organized against pretty much any and all things Chumash, we have Preservation of Los Olivos (POLO), Save The Valley, and Santa Ynez Valley Concerned Citizens. I'm almost positive that it's basically the same group of people who just keep changing their club's name every so many lawsuits, but I don't have any proof of that–so chalk this little tidbit of information up to frivolous, baseless gossip, because I just can't help myself. YOLO, people.

Tribal Chairman Kenneth Kahn and U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) seem pretty confident that a recently introduced House resolution, if passed, will stem the tide of frivolous lawsuits. That golden ticket is HR 317, which used to be HR 1157, which used to be HR 1491, a version of which U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (D-Richvale) has basically introduced in almost every legislative session since 2013. The bill, if passed, authorizes the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to take Camp 4 into fee-to-trust with the federal government.

The funny thing of it is, the Department of the Interior already authorized itself to make Camp 4 part of the tribe's existing reservation in the Santa Ynez Valley–even after multiple appeals and lawsuits filed by your favorite concerned citizens failed. My God, people. Move on with your lives!

But Kahn, ever the optimist, seems to think this resolution will make a difference: "We're hoping it will be quick and easy," he told us. Nothing about the Camp 4 process has been quick or easy. 

"This affirmation bill would be important just to give us the opportunity to build today," he said. 

I'm pretty sure the tribe's concerned neighbors will still file a lawsuit to try to prevent the tribe from building homes on the Camp 4 property. Because they will never move on with their lives. Because they've been suing everybody over the Chumash since 1996, when the casino was approved. Remember that 6.9 acres of land that the Chumash wanted to build a museum and cultural center on? It took almost 10 years for everything to fall into place due to ... lawsuits!

If these groups had any power at all, Carbajal never would have been elected to Congress–because he was all about government-to-government talks between Santa Barbara County and the Chumash when he was a county supervisor. And how do you think these "concerned" citizens feel about those talks? Hint, hint: If they could sue elected officials for talking to a member of the tribe, they would

The canary is squawking over wasted paper at [email protected].

Comments (0)
Add a Comment