Gabrieleno Indians

The construction workers didn't think much of the small fragments of splintered bone buried a yard under the sidewalk near Fullerton Municipal Airport. After all, animal bones are common finds during excavations. But nonchalance quickly turned to concern when a dark brown human skull popped unexpectedly out of the side of the 7-foot hole on Commonwealth Avenue. "It just rolled out of nowhere," said Bob Emch, supervisor of the Fricke Construction Co.

For thousands of years, Gabrielino Indians say, they have lived in the Los Angeles Basin. They survived the Spanish missions, Mexican settlers and white developers. Now, a tribe that nearly disappeared is mired in a legal battle over who has the right to control its destiny -- and what role gambling might play in its future.

The leader of a local Indian tribe said Thursday that she and others suspect that the Irvine Co. may be mishandling artifacts and ancestral remains found at a construction site near Corona del Mar. The Gabrieleno Indians planned to take their concerns directly to the Irvine Co. today by picketing outside its headquarters here.

A faction of the landless Gabrielino-Tongva tribe that had insisted in court that it had no desire to build a Las Vegas-style casino in the Los Angeles area announced a change of heart Wednesday. The possibility of a casino in the Los Angeles region came up as two factions of the tribe squared off in Los Angeles Superior Court over a membership dispute.

North American Indians always have held close spiritual ties with their ancestors. So when charges surface that human remains and religious artifacts from sacred Indian burial grounds have been unearthed by developers and tossed in a scrap heap, kin groups and tribal elders go on the warpath. "We believe the remains of our people are sacred," says Vera Rocha, chairwoman of the Gabrieleno Indian Tribe, whose ancestors once occupied the hilly lands near Newport Beach.

For thousands of years, Gabrielino Indians say, they have lived in the Los Angeles Basin. They survived the Spanish missions, Mexican settlers and white developers. Now, a tribe that nearly disappeared is mired in a legal battle over who has the right to control its destiny -- and what role gambling might play in its future.

Victoria Duarte pores over old Spanish records in the San Gabriel Mission rectory, tracking bloodlines into prehistory. Hidden in the padres' scrawl are the names of some of the last full-blooded Gabrielino Indians, who lived in Southern California long before Spain subjugated them, took their land and shattered their culture. One is Duarte's ancestor, Prospero, who came to the mission as a child in 1804.

Members of the Gabrielino-Tongva Indian tribe joined state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) Wednesday at a Westside high school to celebrate passage of a bill that helps preserve natural springs on campus that are of tribal importance. Clear spring water surfaces in a dozen locations on the campus of University High School, which is built on the site of an ancient Indian village, said Angie Dorame Behrns, president of the Springs Foundation.

A state Indian agency will work with local tribes to help rebury Indian bones that are now stored in a Santa Ana warehouse. The Native American Heritage Commission in Sacramento will determine which tribe is the most likely descendant of people whose remains were found by archeologist Arthur Sanger on San Nicolas Island in the 1950s, said Larry Myers, director of the commission.

Irvine Co. officials assured a group of local Indians on Friday that they will have a new role in monitoring future archeological digs at the Newport Coast development between Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar. But company officials refused a request to change their policy of digging up ancestral Indian remains and burying them in areas that are earmarked for open space. "We are doing everything according to state law," said project director Bernard A. Maniscalco.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected on Monday a lawsuit filed by a faction of a landless San Gabriel Valley tribe that wants to build a casino against the wishes of another faction that has no interest in gambling. After a year of legal squabbling, Judge Soussan Bruguera determined that the court lacked jurisdiction over the case. The ruling brought applause from a dozen members of the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe who had been driven nearly into bankruptcy by the lawsuit.

Ask Anthony Morales why he wants the federal government to recognize the Gabrielino Indians, and the tribal chairman speaks of social justice. Granting sovereign status to the Gabrielino-Tongva Nation would acknowledge that perhaps as many as 2,000 residents of Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties are descended from natives of the L.A. Basin, whose lands once stretched from the Channel Islands to Laguna Beach to the San Gabriel Mountains.

Victoria Duarte pores over old Spanish records in the San Gabriel Mission rectory, tracking bloodlines into prehistory. Hidden in the padres' scrawl are the names of some of the last full-blooded Gabrielino Indians, who lived in Southern California long before Spain subjugated them, took their land and shattered their culture. One is Duarte's ancestor, Prospero, who came to the mission as a child in 1804.

Members of the Gabrielino-Tongva Indian tribe joined state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) Wednesday at a Westside high school to celebrate passage of a bill that helps preserve natural springs on campus that are of tribal importance. Clear spring water surfaces in a dozen locations on the campus of University High School, which is built on the site of an ancient Indian village, said Angie Dorame Behrns, president of the Springs Foundation.

Native American tribal leaders said Thursday that they won't make recommendations for the disposition of what they believe to be remains of ancestors buried in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands until an investigation into an alleged death threat to an archeologist is completed. Tribal leaders said this week that they are not involved in the recent threat reported by archeologist Nancy Whitney-Desautels, who unearthed what some believe to be ancient Native American bones in the area.

Two representatives of the Gabrieleno Indian tribe, the original inhabitants of much of which is now Los Angeles and Orange counties, appeared at a hearing here Wednesday to protest proposed development of land in the Bolsa Chica area. Vera Rocha, who identified herself as chief of the 3,000 Gabrielenos in California, spoke against the Koll Co. plan to build up to 4,884 houses on vacant land around the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve.

Native American tribal leaders said Thursday that they won't make recommendations for the disposition of what they believe to be remains of ancestors buried in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands until an investigation into an alleged death threat to an archeologist is completed. Tribal leaders said this week that they are not involved in the recent threat reported by archeologist Nancy Whitney-Desautels, who unearthed what some believe to be ancient Native American bones in the area.

Two representatives of the Gabrieleno Indian tribe, the original inhabitants of much of which is now Los Angeles and Orange counties, appeared at a hearing here Wednesday to protest proposed development of land in the Bolsa Chica area. Vera Rocha, who identified herself as chief of the 3,000 Gabrielenos in California, spoke against the Koll Co. plan to build up to 4,884 houses on vacant land around the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve.

The construction workers didn't think much of the small fragments of splintered bone buried a yard under the sidewalk near Fullerton Municipal Airport. After all, animal bones are common finds during excavations. But nonchalance quickly turned to concern when a dark brown human skull popped unexpectedly out of the side of the 7-foot hole on Commonwealth Avenue. "It just rolled out of nowhere," said Bob Emch, supervisor of the Fricke Construction Co.

North American Indians always have held close spiritual ties with their ancestors. So when charges surface that human remains and religious artifacts from sacred Indian burial grounds have been unearthed by developers and tossed in a scrap heap, kin groups and tribal elders go on the warpath. "We believe the remains of our people are sacred," says Vera Rocha, chairwoman of the Gabrieleno Indian Tribe, whose ancestors once occupied the hilly lands near Newport Beach.