Jamul Action Committee
Jamul Action Committee Jamul Action Committee

Legal Update March 14, 2014

Update from Attorney Pat Webb – Great news! This just in on our lawsuits… Our state court lawsuit against Caltrans has been assigned to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny. He’s the judge that shot down the bullet train proposal on many of the same environmental claims. We will relay the date for our upcoming state court hearing as soon as we receive it from the Sacramento Superior Court.

Our lawyer, Steve Volker, is in the process of applying for an expedited hearing on the merits of invalidating Caltrans Encroachment Permit, which we are told is the best way to obtain immediate relief. It also can last longer than an injunction, which is typically only temporary.

Our lawyers have also been coordinating with the County in its lawsuit against Caltrans. We have been looking into the County’s anti-dumping ordinance, but found that the land where the dirt is being dumped is actually in San Diego City limits, and not directly subject to the County ordinance.

We have also been successful in obtaining the assistance of Vestar, the property manager for the Rancho San Diego shopping center, to prevent the trucks from continuing to violate their agreement to abide by Caltrans Traffic Management Plan, which they have already broken by approaching from the west and staging on the Target/Edwards Theaters parking lot.

We are also looking at the Native American Grave Protection Act and California Public Resources Code issues concerning Walter & Karen’s families’ human remains and funerary objects. To prevent the tribe from wrongfully using their “sovereignty” to prevent our claims from going forward, we are working on obtaining an injunction on Caltrans property at the other end of the truck trips, which is public land subject to the Public Resources Code and prohibits the desecration of the families’ remains and funerary objects on public land.

The first hearing in JAC and the Jamul Community Church’s federal lawsuit against NIGC and the BIA remains set for March 28, 2014, before Judge Kimberly Mueller, also in Sacramento. Our lawyer, Ken Williams, has been successful in getting the government’s lawyers to agree (without a hearing) not to allow approval of Penn National’s proposed management agreement until there is a full blown NEPA environmental impact statement, with public input, review and a hearing.

In the meantime, Ken and Steve are continuing to coordinate efforts between the state and federal lawsuits. As the U.S. Supreme Court has now repeatedly held, tribal sovereignty does not mean the tribe ever acquired any right to property within the state of California, when the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction in 1934. There are many landless tribes in this country, just like the JIV, wrongfully trying to illegally build casinos on land that doesn’t qualify for gambling.

JAC and the Jamul Community Church continue to need your donations to finish prosecuting our claims against the governments. JAC and the Church look forward to keeping our community informed, and will provide speakers for the upcoming “small group” neighborhood meetings. Please contact Darla Kasmedo at jacjamul@yahoo.com to host a neighborhood meeting at your home this coming month.

At press time, the JIV and Penn National continue to dig their hole and gamble on their ability to buy favor from the powers that are illegally allowing them to encroach on Highway 94, without preparing a full blown environmental impact report, and without mitigating any of the severe negative environmental impacts that can’t be mitigated and that their proposed 1 million square foot casino will have on Jamul. Their track record precedes them. They have lost this gamble before, in other communities around the country, and they will lose that gamble here, so long as Jamul remains united.

Please support JAC with your donation to our legal fund. Please send your donations to:
JAC
P.O. Box 1317
Jamul, CA 91935

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