This is the second in a series of articles on Robinson Rancheria's effort to disenroll certain of its tribal members.

UPPER LAKE  Late last month, the Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomos Citizens Business Council informed

several dozen members of its intent to remove their tribal membership, an action taking place not just locally but around

California and the nation.

Between 60 and 74 members have reportedly been told they will be removed from the tribe's rolls unless, as a result of

a half-hour appeal hearing granted to those who request it, the council chooses to let the members remain.

The appeal hearings to determine the future for these potential disenrollees began this week.

Tribal Chair Tracey Avilia said this week that questions surrounding these tribal members and their entitlement to be

included among the band's number have been an issue for years, going back to 1990.

This is the largest disenrollment action the tribe has ever taken, she concedes, as the tribe prepares for a January

election to determine who will be tribal chair, as well as two other seats.

A June 14 election was decertified, and the tribe's election committee – dominated by Avilia's family – has

ruled that her challenger for the seat, EJ Crandell – who won the June election – has been disqualified

from running.

Crandell and other tribal members, including potential disenrollee Luwana Quitiquit, say the disenrollments are purely

political and retaliatory.

The tribe's own enrollment ordinance states that disenrollment is possible on three grounds: the person obtained

enrollment by error, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation; they became a fully recognized member of another tribe without

relinquishing their Robinson Rancheria membership; the person is a descendant of a disenrollee and doesn't otherwise

meet membership requirements.

The ordinance doesn't allow for disenrollment due to adoption, which traditionally has been a common practice among

American Indians.

However, the tribal council has passed a resolution to strike the adoption process, which Quitiquit and Crandell say is

an ex post facto law, which is prohibited in the tribe's 1980 constitution, just as it is the US Constitution.

If it's truly the case that Robinson's disenrollment is born out of politics and animosity toward rival families, the Robinson

band wouldn't be unique. That's because attempts to reduce tribal membership through these types of actions aren't new

to Lake County, California or the nation.

On Nov. 10, 2007, 25 members of the Elem Colony were removed from that tribe's rolls, including the last native

speaker of the tribe's language. Then-chairman, Ray Brown Sr. acknowledged the move to County News in a previous

interview, saying that the move was justified because many of the people were adopted into the tribe and weren't blood

relations.

To date, an estimated 2,000 Indians have been disenrolled by 15 California tribes – not including those currently

proposed at Robinson, according to John Gomez, president of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization

(AIRRO), a group that focuses on human and civil rights issues.

Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Regional Director Dale Risling, based in Sacramento, said “quite a few”

tribes are going through disenrollments currently.

He said his agency hears about most of them through the media, and not directly, since they don't usually have a role in

settling the disputes because of tribal constitutions. “The ones that we really get are the ones that require our

involvement.”

Tony Gonzales, spokesman for the American Indian Movement-West, said gaming tribes decertifying members has

become a big problem nationwide as well.

That's because a lot is at stake, with gaming tribes across the nation generating revenues in the realm of $46 billion.

“Unfortunately, in the process to gain more money for themselves, they are decertifying members,” said

Gonzales. “The irony, too, is they're adopting non-Indians into their tribes.”

Some blame gaming for disenrollments

In California, Gomez said the vast majority of disenrollments have occurred since the passage of Proposition 5, the

Tribal Government Gaming and Economic Self-Sufficiency Act of 1998 that allowed gaming on tribal lands, and

Proposition 1A, passed in 2000, allowing tribes to operate slot machines and banked and percentage card games.

He said it's mostly the gaming tribes who carry out reducing membership in this way. “I don't believe it's just

about greed. I think it's about greed and retaining political power.”

Gomez was among 200 people disenrolled by the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in 2004. Two years later, as

many as 175 more Pechanga tribal members saw their membership disappear. “Both times it just happened prior

to regularly scheduled elections for tribal council.”

The Redding Rancheria's first tribal chair, Bob Foreman, and his family – all 76 members – were

disenrolled in 2002 after their lineage was questioned. Despite providing DNA samples to prove their ancestry, Foreman

– who had been tribal chair for 20 years – was pushed out of the tribe.

Gomez said Foreman, who incidentally was born in Nice, went on to be a founding member of AIRRO. Foreman died

Nov. 19, and Gomez and other AIRRO members are traveling to Redding for his funeral this weekend, at which time

they're expected to discuss possible action in response to Robinson's disenrollment move.

He said disenrollments often evolve around election disputes, as in Robinson's case. Similarly, Gomez said the

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