(Updated with corrected dismissal)
By Deb Murphy
Tribal Judge Bill Kockenmeister, at the request of the Bishop Paiute Tribal Council, issued a restraining order against members of the Warlie family, requiring the family remove fencing, livestock and a storage container from two contested allotments and stay off the land.
Last Tuesday’s proceedings come after three years of struggle between descendants of Ida Warlie and the Tribal Council over the two lots, directly behind the existing Paiute Palace Casino and slated for extensive development.
Brothers Ron and Rick Napoles, the spokesmen for the family, maintain allotments were given to their grandmother, Eda Warlie, in 1939 and have remained in the family ever since. While more recent allotments have been limited in size, family allotments like the Warlie’s were basically grandfathered in according to the family’s attorney Andrea Seielstad, with precedents being set that validate the Warlie family claim. Tribal Council maintains the land went back to the Tribe after disuse and the two parcels are necessary for economic development.
Last month, the same Tribal Court judge dismissed with prejudice, meaning the matter could not come back before the court, charges of trespass levied against family members in July 2014. According to Seielstad, dismissal of the trespass charges basically validates the family’s claim to the land: you can’t trespass on land that belongs to you.
Five family members were cited with trespass on three consecutive days beginning last Saturday.
Tribal Council requested the restraining order on the basis that the family’s activities on the land represented a “threat to health, safety and peace,” and fell within the trespass ordinance.
Ron Napoles told the court the hearing was a violation of due process. “I don’t know why we’re here,” he said. Kockenmeister interrupted him. “You know why you’re here,” he said. “This is not a hearing on who owns the land. Tribal Court has no jurisdiction to determine ownership.” The judge explained that Napoles required a court order as to the ownership. “Without that I have to decide ownership lies with the Tribe not the family.”
The judge explained the request for a restraining order was an ex parte action not requiring the presence of the Warlie family members cited for trespass. “This is a courtesy,” he said.
However in a phone interview, Seielstad said there are required procedures and the burden of proof that the family’s actions represented a threat to health, safety and peace.
Hockenmeister also said a previous Appellate Court decision had no status.
Since the initial action in 2014, the Intertribal Court of Southern California, the court of appeals, overturned the trespass citations following oral arguments and evidence the land had been in the Warlie family since 1939. The court could not rule on ownership, but according to Seielstad, the Tribal Council had to prove its right to the land. “And it never did,” she said.
The Bishop Tribal Council issued a press release last week stating “the assertion of (Napoles’) family rights to occupy and use the particular parcels of land underlying the future hotel have been repudiated by every seated Tribal Council since 1977, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Owens Valley Board of Trustees.” The release indicates a Grant of Standard Assignment had to be obtained from the Board of Trustees.
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If our tribal council would follow the hierarchy of the tribe they would know that the general council which is the members of the tribe is above the tribal council. They are supposed to do what the members vote on and pass. I myself think that the Napoles family needs to keep our tribal business out of the press!!
tribes are there own government meaning theres no one who can make anyone in tribe do anything ….the tribe and us r two seprate goverments …which means one can concur other but neither goverments can boss eachother around …..the problem theses days is tribal councilsall over r greedy n inturn have not taught younger members tribal politics…thus general coucils don’t understand importance of standing as one a tribe n have no idea how powerful half the tribe iz when they come together …..
I find it hard to believe that they can’t figure out a compromise on this?
Our Tribal Court has become nothing but a “Kangarrooo Court that serves the Elite Council members who have become corrupted to rule over the people, instead of serving the people’s needs, THEY are only interested in collecting their $7,000 per month stipend checks for doing nothing but going on extravagant conference trips, complete with very generous per diems and stipends, gallivanting all over the country, Councilman Chris Hohag justgot back from the Dakota pipeline protest, only to be getting ready to take another jaunt across the country. All the while, us unemployed Tribal members struggle to pay our utility bills, that come with serious Late fees that seem to compound, just like all the tribal members ending up having to pay all these New Tribal Court-Fines for minuscule-trumped-up charges by our so-called Tribal police who enjoy writing Tickets and more tickets, they have become more of a Curse than a blessing to our Tribe and that is the Truth…!
This is slander as Mr. Kris Hohag is not on tribal council. I do however agree that being on council should not be paid as outrageously as it is. But to comment something so ignorant and hateful is disgusting. This is why the tribe will never progress because of people like you Mr. Lent who choose to cut at someones character in the comment section without knowing the facts. Rather that sit behind your keyboard and spread hate offer positive solutions to the problem and get out in your community to do positive thing. That being said I do realize that this had very little to do with what the article was about and think that one familys greed by hindering business development that could provide more jobs of local tribal members is sick.
Thank you for your time.
Irve,
Chris Hohag lost in two consecutive tribal elections. Therefore he is no longer a Tribal Council member. He is traveling on his own dime and it is nobody’s business but his. Are you an eligible tribal voter? Seems like this shouldn’t be news to you as an informed tribal member.