To be fair, I went to hear what the Chumash tribe wanted the public to hear about taking their 1,400 acres via the fee-to-trust process last Friday and afterward, I felt like my intelligence was insulted.

Tribal representatives said the land was culturally important to transfer it via fee to trust - thereby removing it from all local, state and county controls - and badly needed for housing.

Dear tribal members, if you need to buy houses, nothing is stopping you from doing this now. You do not need an act of Congress to grant you permission to buy or sell real estate. You are citizens of the same country I am, which grants us all the same rights. What are you waiting for? We have some amazing deals right here in our own back yard, and a lot of great local real estate professionals who can help you.

Last time I checked, each of you are receiving over $30,000 a month from your casino business, which, according to President Obama, makes you a part of the wealthy class. Congratulations on your success.

However, the real reason you want the 1,400 acres annexed into your reservation is to avoid taxes and to be held accountable to no one, including escaping legal consequences by using your sovereignty status.

So, you do not want to play by the same rules the rest of us have to abide by - like zoning, land use, permits and taxes, to name a few - and then you want us to pay for it?

The county and local governments are not financially in good shape and are just about broke. Unemployment is at an all-time high, with many families barely able to make ends meet, and the tribe wants these people and other neighbors to pick up the tab for taxes tribal members seek to skip out on by hiding under this fee-to-trust process? Do you think this is fair, given your economic successes?
I think what really got me was the smoking-gun document that nobody had the courage to talk about, that had sparked the other standing-room-only town hall meeting in August - the mitigation-cooperative agreement. The tribe sent this document to the county Board of Supervisors and stated they wanted the board's support to take the 1,400 acres into trust for tribal housing and tribal economic development projects. Tribal officials have yet to explain what types of economic development or businesses they had in mind, hence the concern by Valley residents when the document was exposed.

At the tribe's meeting, it was verbalized in a trust-me kind of way that they only wanted the land for housing. Why would the tribe state economic development as a goal for the land in their document, then not discuss it at their meeting? I read that document - a copy of it is available on the www.polosyv.org Web site. See for yourself. It's front and center on page one, third paragraph down, that the tribe wants to do more than build houses on the 1,400 acres, and for an undisclosed price to the county for such a sweet deal.

Judging by the dismal turnout for the tribe's meeting, Valley residents are starting to notice, and not liking what they are hearing and seeing. Once again, it's about trust and the almighty dollar.

If you agree with the above, please send a note to all five county supervisors, asking that they not support the fee-to-trust process or any other backdoor process that seeks to negate the masses. Our elected officials need to hear our voices loud and clear - and ASAP.

Teri Harmon lives in Los Olivos.