By Onell R. Soto, STAFF WRITER

Walter Rosales’ home – and its message – were torn down yesterday, along with another home, to build a casino on the Jamul Indian Reservation.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune

The homes of three evicted Jamul Indian Reservation residents were demolished yesterday to make way for a casino, despite an earlier promise from a tribal official to hold off on the destruction.

“The executive council overrode me,” said Leon Acebedo, chairman of the 51-member Jamul Indian Village. “They’re fed up and they’re tired of waiting.”

Acebedo promised in writing Saturday that “we will not demolish the residences of Walter Rosales and Karen Toggery until after the close of business, March 16, 2007.”

The delay was meant to give Rosales and Toggery time to challenge their removals in state and federal court.

That promise was key to ending an hours-long standoff between tribal members and about 50 community residents after Rosales, Toggery and Toggery’s son were evicted from the reservation.

“I don’t have a home anymore,” said Rosales, who was born on the reservation 59 years ago. “That’s pretty sad. I can’t believe they did that.”

Rosales and Toggery have lifelong blood ties to the tribe but are not officially enrolled. They do not accept Acebedo as tribal leader.

They claim that the Bureau of Indian Affairs recognized the wrong people as tribal leaders and members. Rosales says he is the duly elected tribal chairman. Toggery says she is the judge in the tribal court.

Such claims are the basis of lawsuits going back to the 1990s, although courts have ruled against the challengers.

Thursday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled in a case dating to 1996 that Rosales and Toggery are not members of the tribe and don’t have standing to challenge tribal elections, including one amending the tribe’s constitution to allow more people in.

Rosales and Toggery also say the reservation land is sacred. Ashes of their relatives have been spread on the land and, following Kumeyaay Indian rituals, the belongings of dead tribal members have been burned and buried there.

“They really don’t care, they don’t have qualms about tearing up that place,” Toggery said yesterday.

Their lawyer said he is challenging the evictions and the demolitions in court in San Diego and Washington, D.C.

Acebedo said he’s not waiting for more court rulings concerning Rosales and Toggery. He said they rejected compensation offered to get them to move.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s over,” he said.

Tribal members also said they will be careful when dealing with funerary objects such as burned belongings.

The evictions, demolition and land clearing are part of a new strategy in which the tribe is planning to go forward with construction of a casino without an agreement with the state.

The tribe entered into an agreement with then-Gov. Gray Davis in 1999 that allowed it to offer Las Vegas-style games, including 350 slot machines.

That agreement also calls for environmental reviews and a plan to lessen any effects on the nearby community.

The tribe had been seeking to amend that compact to add slot machines but has faced steep opposition from community members, county Supervisor Dianne Jacob and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

After getting nowhere for more than eight years, tribal leaders decided last week to go forward with card games and slot machines based on bingo and poker, which don’t require a compact with the state.

That will probably mean a scaled-back operation from the last proposal, Acebedo said yesterday.

The new casino on the 6-acre reservation about 22 miles from downtown San Diego would include about 1,000 slot machines, instead of about 2,000 proposed earlier.

Tribal member and casino supporter Chris Pinto, 29, said efforts to block the casino project have delayed construction too long.

“We finally just put our foot down,” he said. “This is an opportunity for us to move forward out of the life we’re living.”

Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280; onell.soto@uniontrib.com
© Copyright 2007 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

Posted on March 13th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: Gaming, News