Well, well, well.
Looks like a little bird stuck its tiny talon in its teeny beak. It’s time for a reckoning! Only it wasn’t the one-legged barn owl from next door. It was me!
Remember back in January, when I was making fun of those Santa Ynez Valley citizen groups who keep suing the Santa Ynez Valley Band of Chumash Indians over everything the tribe does? And how I said those lawsuits were generally dismissed as frivolous?
Welp. One of those little ditties finally hit home. I just closed my beady little eyes and shook my bitty fowl feathered-head when I found out.
Anne Crawford-Hall, who owns San Lucas Ranch, finally threw something against the lawsuit wall that actually stuck! I’ll be damned. The one fighting for vernal pool fairy shrimp, which are a threatened species, did not work. They’re not as cute as the conservancy fairy shrimp or the longhorn fairy shrimp, so I totally get that. The mythically named creature lives in seasonal ponds, a habitat that’s pretty much nonexistent except for in parts of the Central Valley, Carrizo Plain National Monument, Los Padres National Forest, and Southern California.
Crawford-Hall’s ditty both threatens and endangers Camp 4’s ability to become part of the Chumash reservation. In fact, U.S. District Court Judge Steve Wilson overturned the Department of the Interior’s decision to place Camp 4 in fee-to-trust with the federal government because of what basically amounts to a technicality, sending the tribe’s application back to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Attorney Barry Cappello is definitely worth what Crawford-Hall is paying him! Cappello dug through the details of what it means to be an “acting” federal employee (Appointed, without Congressional approval—so confusing!). Turns out that 210 days is the limit! Who knew? Cappello knew! Interim Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Lawrence Roberts was past his due date when he made the decision about Camp 4.
You’re expired!
Tribal Chair Kenneth Kahn concedes that the decision was legal but “unfortunate.” Yeah, that’s an understatement. It totally blows, man!
Meanwhile, the army of Santa Ynez Valley “protectors” who storm court clerks with frivolous (yeah, I’m saying it) lawsuits are absolutely overjoyed with pleasure about this hiccup in proceedings.
I’m rescinding my command that you move on with your lives, Santa Ynez Valley Concerned Citizens and Santa Ynez Valley Coalition members. Damnit!
Wallow in the win of one of your own. Waste your money on more lawsuits! Apparently, sometimes, they work. If that’s how you want to spend your time and resources, YOLO!
Also, remember that whole bill thing I railed on about in that same column? HR 317, that golden ticket to reservation paradise and homes for Chumash tribal members, is still in play. U.S. Reps. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and Doug LaMalfa (D-Richvale) are still out there fighting for Camp 4 in a bitterly divided world.
If the bill passes, perhaps Camp 4 will finally be at rest in the hands of its owners. It’s only been nine years of fighting for what they believe is rightfully theirs, what’s a few more?
The canary hates technicalities. Email thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 21-28, 2019.
