(The Santa Ynez Valley Journal
invites you to make your voice heard on things that matter to you! Please
submit letters or news you’d like us to cover to: info@syvjournal.com,
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opinion of the writers and not necessarily the opinion of the Publisher. Although we welcome the opinions of all, it
is the SYV Journal’s policy not to publish personal attacks, and reserves the
right to edit for length and content).
“CHUMASH
HIGHWAY”
Perhaps you were as surprised as I that Highway 154
will soon be “Chumash Highway”. Even the pro-tribe SB News-Press reported that
there was “virtually no local public notice ahead of time that lawmakers were
working on the resolution”. For a local highway to be re-named, shouldn’t the
locals have any say in the process? Instead, it was a San Jose
assemblyman who introduced the bill into the state’s legislature. Here we can
see another example of how Chumash casino money has influenced politicians far
beyond our county borders to impose the tribe’s will on us - just as
hundreds of thousands of Chumash dollars were sent to other state legislators
in the past election to influence them to further the gambling agenda.
What’s next? Renaming 246 “Vince Armenta
Highway”? It’s really not that far-fetched anymore.
Why not name the road for our war veterans, our firefighters
or even Jake Copass? Any of the above names would
have had my vote. But then, I wasn’t asked. And neither were you.
If renaming 154 “Chumash
Highway” is such a good idea, then why wasn’t it named such 15 or 20 years ago?
The reason is, of course, that there were no
huge gambling profits available at that time to fill the pockets of out of area
politicians.
This is just one more example of how the leadership of
153 tribal members can use its money to go “over the heads” of
the other 20,000 valley residents and thwart the will of the
majority. Just another example of how the tribal leadership chooses to
forego consulting with its neighbors on matters directly affecting
them.
Haven’t you had enough of this? Contact POLO at
info@polosyv.org to find out what you can do to make your voice heard.
Rolf
Richter
Los
Olivos