Big Pine Tribal Council must address petition

I am a member of the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley and a signatory (along with 51% of eligible voters of the Tribe) to four petitions calling for the removal of four Tribal Council members.

In the Big Pine Tribal Constitution there is a detailed process for removing Tribal Council members and the first step in the process is to provide a petition with signatures of at least 51% of eligible voters of the Tribe. According to a notice sent to tribal members from the charged tribal council members, the Bureau of Indian Affairs provided the removal petitions and signatures on Dec. 19, 2023.

The second step of the removal process, according to the Constitution, is that the Tribal Council is required to set up a General Council meeting within 10 days to hear the charges against the elected official, provide an opportunity for the charged to respond and have a vote on the question of removal. The petitions were provided on December 19, 2023, so the Big Pine

Tribal Council had until December 29, 2023 to hold a General Council meeting to conduct the removal process. However, no General Council meeting was held by the due date as part of the removal process.

This is in violation of the Constitution of the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley and is one of many issues that has led to a lack of trust in the current Big Pine Tribal Government by its members.

Last Tuesday The Inyo Register included an article on the first page which depicts a burglary and attacks on employees. I sure wish that The Inyo Register would have done a little bit of investigation on their own prior to printing very slanted information. The article does not mention that it was tribal staff which broke a tribal office window so that they could jump through it and enter an office, which had an arsenal of bear spray. The article also did not mention that it was tribal staff who attacked others by unloading multiple large bottles of bear spray on human beings. I am unclear what will happen as a result of the activities that evening; however, I sure do hope that justice is ultimately seen.

On Jan. 10, the Big Pine Tribal Council issued a Tribal State of Emergency. I am saddened to say that I am in agreement … we are in a state of emergency on the Big Pine Reservation.

However, the rectification of the state of emergency is not to deal with symptoms of the problem. We need to deal with the problem itself. The majority of eligible voters in the tribe signed a petition in order to bring order to our government. Unfortunately, the Big Pine Tribal Council has created two different Special General Council meetings over the next week on topics that avoid the petition and will create more division within the community.

The Big Pine Tribe needs a General Council meeting to address the petition and see what happens through the Big Pine Tribal Constitutional process for removal. I write this in hope that we have a General Council meeting soon so that we can begin a process of healing from this painful episode.