Amador County – A relative of two women who claim membership to the Buena Vista Band of Me-Wuk Indians said they are opposing the casino on Coal Mine Road in Amador County because of their ancestors buried there.

Ya-Nah Geary Mandujano spoke Aug. 16 at the Amador County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, during “matters not on the agenda,” said June Geary (her grandmother), and Bea Ortega Crabtree (her great aunt), are suing, saying they are hereditary members of the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians.

Mandujano said “this is the organization of a traditional hereditary government of Miwok who come from Buena Vista. Our leaders are not currently acknowledged by the United States of America, but these Miwok elders are currently going to federal court to become acknowledged.”

Mandujano, a radio host of “Sovereignty Sound,” on KDVS 90.3 FM in Davis, told supervisors that if Amador County repossessed the Buena Vista land, due to taxes, “I hope you would consider talking to these two elders.”

Mandujano said last week that a November court date is set in the trial, with co-plaintiffs, Friends of Amador County, led by Jackson Valley resident Jerry Cassesi. They joined Cassesi in the suit because they don’t want gaming on the 67-acre Rancheria in Buena Vista, due to their ancestors’ graves being there, some marked, and many believed to be unmarked. She said they are not against Indian gaming but they are against being kept from their cultural resources and their Rancheria.

She said the cemetery is not assessed, hindering it from taxable status, which may contribute to the county tax issue.

“There are people buried all over out there,” Mandujano said. “The whole thing should be considered a cemetery.”

Mandujano said under U.S. government policies, her grandmother and great aunt are being prevented from reorganizing, because of agreements made by Donna Marie Potts, who handed over the tribe to current Chairwoman, Rhonda Morningstar Pope. Mandujano said the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior will not allow them to reorganize, so they cannot get benefits they are due as members of a tribe.

She said the BIA recognized Pope’s Buena Vista Rancheria tribe, and Rhonda had to settle with Donna Marie Potts.

In early 2009 or 2010, Mandujano said they “found out Rhonda wasn’t going to make good on her promise to include my grandma and great aunty” in the tribe. She said it could have been good to include the elders, but “they looked down on my grandma and great aunt.”

Mandujano said: “They would’ve all been stinking rich by now.” She said if it is allowed to go up the way it is now designed and planned, “we would not ever see our cemetery rights being protected.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.