Several years ago, when Vince Armenta left his job in the valet parking department at the Chumash casino, he became tribal chairman, he wrote a letter to another Valley newspaper.

In that published letter he claimed “his people” were marched to the property, where the casino and tribal housing are now located, and were marched there “at gunpoint.” This inflammatory statement was but one in a string of false statements made over the years by Chairman Armenta.

Mr. Armenta’s claim that the local members who were fractional descendants of Chumash and Shoshone Indians were marched to this site at gunpoint was at best, a figment of his imagination. The land on which the casino and tribal housing is situated was in fact a gift from the Catholic Church in 1934.

It was never lawfully established as a reservation and has never been held in federal trust, making the gambling operation there a violation of federal law as defined by 25 USC 2703 and 25 USC 2719.

To be eligible “Indian lands” as defined by 25 USC 2703 or any exception established by the provisions of 25 USC 2719, the land would have to have been established by Congress or the President as a reservation. In order to be trust land, it would have had to be transferred into federal Indian trust status by the Secretary of Interior.

This was but one in a string of false statements by Chairman Armenta. Later when he demanded free chips for himself, his son and friends at a casino blackjack table, he told the media it was only $300 worth when it was much more.

He held onto the tribal chairmanship when federal authorities left the matter up to the 5-person tribal gaming commission headed up by his brother Raul Armenta. Instead of punishing the chairman, they imposed a fine on the dealer for yielding to Armenta’s demand for free chips.

When there was an uproar within the tribe, a letter was circulated from the extensive Armenta family clan threatening tribal retaliation for anyone who talked to outside media outlets about these activities or any other “tribal business.”

His chairmanship remarkably survived the scandal of his taking money from the tribe by demanding free chips for himself and others in a blackjack game.

Despite this violation of federal law, nothing was done by the federal enforcement agencies who said they would leave it up to the tribal gaming committee. That committee then fined the poor dealer, who gave him the free chips on demand.

Not long after that, at a press conference, Chairman Armenta strongly denied that his purpose in seeking to annex fee land and bring it into trust was to avoid county zoning and planning regulations, even though that is exactly what he told the tribal council in a meeting held in May 2000 was the exact purpose in transferring fee lands into trust.

When Chairman Armenta’s brother Tony was accused of widespread sexual harassment of female employees at the casino, Chairman Armenta signed a court declaration refusing to disclose information about the matter to a court of law.

In another case the head of security, a retired police sergeant who had worked diligently for the casino for years was fired for reporting various illegal activities to federal agencies, though his termination was described as an “elimination of his position.” When he filed suit, the court dismissed his suit because of an outdated, court-created doctrine giving Indian tribes and their businesses immunity from lawsuit for their misconduct; the outdated court-created legal doctrine that Indian tribes are immune from any lawsuits they do not consent to.

The vast losses of gamblers at this casino have not only enabled the 150 or so enrolled members of the tribe to be paid $45,000 a month in profit distribution, it has allowed the tribe to buy up large amounts of land around the Valley with the excess profits and even borrow money to buy bank stock, (which lost half its value in only a few months).

Despite these millions of dollars in gambling profits, the fact is the tribe pays no state or local property taxes, income taxes, bed taxes, corporate taxes or personal property taxes which are all taxes that are needed by local government that must provide all the public services and infrastructure the tribe and its businesses that they use regularly.

Not only does the casino and tribal businesses avoid these taxes, the tribe still collects millions of dollars of federal grant and welfare monies every year, earmarked for “Indian tribes.” In fact, the federal tax money received by way of grants to the Chumash exceeds the amount of the sporadic gifts the tribal government gives to various local charities and to mitigate the many adverse impacts on local communities.

Although there are hundreds of descendants of Chumash ancestry, they get virtually nothing from this lucrative casino operation because their ancestry is only determined to be one-eighth (1/8th or less) based on the vague and inaccurate records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs [B.I.A.] compiled decades ago, when no one knew that a claim to Chumash ancestry, recorded in federal census records, would become a ticket to millions in gambling profits decades later.

As a result, these 1/8th descendants don’t share any of the vast profits divided amongst the 150 or so enrolled tribal members. For many years, George Armenta was the enrollment committee charged with determining enrollment eligibility. To be a tribal member, one is supposed to be at least a quarter (1/4th) Chumash ancestry.

One researcher recently reviewed those antiquated B.I.A. records and noted that the Manuel Armenta Chumash ancestry entry had been changed from one-quarter (1/4) to one-half (1/2), thus insuring the qualification of the Chairman Armenta and his family and siblings, that they met the one-quarter ancestral requirement in order to be “enrolled tribal members.”

These hundreds of other fractional Chumash descendants have complained they cannot even get a job at the casino or the hotels.

The Saudi Arabian company, Sudecko, who hires and fires such employees, often turns away these Chumash descendants telling them they are “unqualified.” In view of the reasons originally given for allowing Indian gambling casinos in the first place, this in itself is incredible, particularly in light of the Armenta tribal government’s claim to give hiring preferences to Chumash descendants and other fractional Indian descendants.

Now, after the death of Fess Parker, the tribe has purchased the entire 1,400 acres, of the former Fess Parker property, a long-time scenic and bucolic parcel of land in the Valley. Mr. Armenta has stated the purchase of this land was to buy back aboriginal ancestral lands.

The purpose of this acquisition has, like other tribal purchases, been kept a secret. More importantly, given the history of the Armenta tribal government, the question on everyone’s mind is, can you believe anything that is stated publicly by the this tribal regime?

The historic Native California Chumash who inhabited this area of California mostly lived in hundreds of villages along or very near the coast.

Mr. Armenta evidently is unaware that the aboriginal Chumash that populated dozens of villages along the central and southern California centuries ago were mostly coastal dwellers. The Indians in the interior and eastern regions of California were of entirely different ancestry, mostly Shoshone.

Many of the non-Chumash Indians who wound up in the interior valleys of California were sent to places like Santa Ynez by the Indian agents for the Tulle area near Bakersfield in the 1800s. By pure happenstance, the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians, now calling themselves the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, obtained federal recognition and acknowledgment as a tribe because their name appeared on a 1979 list of Indian tribes officially entitled to receive several million dollars worth of federal grants and welfare monies, which they receive each year.

In fact, since the Santa Ynez band began making hundreds of millions in casino profits, they have continued to receive millions of dollars in federal grant and welfare monies every year while bragging about the few thousands they give to some local charities – yet they give nothing to these hundreds of “un-enrolled” Chumash and coastal Chumash living in the Central Coast area.

Mr. Armenta has often been quoted as seeking to buy up Chumash ancestral or aboriginal lands in California with these gambling profits from vast losses of gamblers. Does he speak for the numerous descendants of the hundreds of historical villages of the ancient Chumash people who lived, mostly along the coast and had nothing to do with Santa Ynez or the small group of Indians who lived for years near the Mission Santa Ynez?

It is difficult, at best, to understand who Mr. Armenta speaks for when he announces as he did, that by purchasing the 1,400-acre former Fess Parker property with $40 million dollars in tribal funds, he is buying back aboriginal Chumash lands.

The last time this proposed purchase was announced several years ago, it was for half as much land and Mr. Armenta denied it was for a casino even though the development plans secretly obtained showed the planned casino at the very center of the project.

When asked about that Chairman Armenta said that was “a mistake.” Fortunately, Mr. Armenta’s recent purchases of land and properties around the Valley and in Santa Maria and Lompoc will be subject not only to all of the State and local zoning laws and regulations, but also to the limitations of the Williamson Act — which Mr. Armenta tried to eliminate when he had state senator Flores introduce a bill to eliminate the provisions of that Act last year to aid the Chumash and shortly after some $15,000 in tribal funds were contributed, coincidently, to Senator Flores’ campaign coffers.

Recent statements by Chairman Armenta continue to leave unanswered questions about who he speaks for and which fractional “Chumash descendants” he claims to be acting for by buying the Fess Parker property and other properties all around the Valley – and what he intends to do with that pristine land.

Jim Marino is a resident of Santa Barbara