This story details how the Gabrielino-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, among others, lost a round to prevent what they consider shoddy treatment of their ancestors' remains amid home building on the Bolsa Chica mesa. As Anthony Morales (pictured), the Gabrielino-Tongva group's most likely descendant, put it, "This action is an attack on our culture and considered a hate crime." But Morales can chalk up a win in a separate battle seeking quiet dignity for his ancestors' remains. With s
After local Native Americans and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust lost their bid before the California Coastal Commission last month to halt Brightwater/Hearthside Homes construction on the Bolsa Chica mesa until they could be satisfied Indian bones were being handled properly, Anthony Morales said the last hope "for dignity" rested with the California Native American Heritage Commission.
Late Friday night, the commission voted unanimously to give the tribal leader of the Gab
"Next is another fun item," joked Chairman Bill Mungary as the California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) moved on to the controversy surrounding remains unearthed on the mesa above the Bolsa Chica wetlands after a lengthy debate over the treatment of buried remains at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
The commission, meeting Friday in the San Juan Capistrano City Council chambers, is empowered by state resources laws to protect Native American remains, gravesites
Photo by Russ Roca
Chief Anthony Morales came up empty at November 2008 California Coastal Commission hearing.
UPDATE: Jaimee Lynn Fletcher reports in Orange County Register: HUNTINGTON BEACH--The city will absorb an unincorporated county island that some environmentalists believe is an American Indian burial ground that dates back more than 8,000 years.
A proposal goes before the Huntington Beach City Council tonight to have the city annex 6.2 acres of land on the Bolsa Chica Mesa th
