AI remember my Grandmother's red, tear-filled eyes as she gave account of how relatives stole… the house my Grandfather built with his own hands for her, in 1939. Yes, white people will do it to their own kind, so its not surprising what they did to the Indians and still doing in Palestine, vainly, in “the name of God.”
Indians Refuse To Give Up 06 Apr 1959, Mon The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
Indians Refuse To Give Up 06 Apr 1959, Mon The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
LAKE EVICTION: Indians Refuse Give Up
By Staff Correspondent
LOWER LAKE — Real estate broker Paul Lewis pleaded not guilty this morning in Justice Court as a defiant band of dispossessed Indians prepared their legal warpaint for a clash with the white settler who wrecked the Cache Creek homes of their ancestors Saturday.
They milled solemnly around their makeshift tepee this morning, staring at the rubble of their razed cabins and determined here would be their last stand.
The only legal weapon the red-men appeared to carry was a 1917 mouse-eaten letter from an Indian Service inspector.
“It says the claims of the white homesteaders are illegal,” said the Indians' lawyer, Lakeport City Attorney Bruce Bruchler.
“Obviously, we can't settle this thing by gunpowder and bows and arrows.”
Public opinion in this settlement seems to be leaning heavily against the Indians' antagonist, real estate broker Paul Lewis of Clearlake Highlands, whose armor is a title to the seven-acre burial ground “that should stand up in any court.”
Mr. Lewis, charged with trespassing and disturbing the peace after he bulldozed two Indian cabins Saturday, complained to his critics:
“I bought that property last August. I paid a substantial sum for it and I'm paying taxes on it right now.
“How can I be charged with trespassing on my own property? I'm determined to develop that land. The Indians will have to go.”
Indian sympathizers in Lower Lake, meanwhile, were collecting wampum to fight the man who wants to toss the tribesmen off their ancient stomping ground to erect deluxe ranch-style residences.
“I'm the villain of the peace-no doubt about it,” Mr. Lewis complained. “The way people around here feel I'm not sure I can get anyone to take my case.”
Mr. Lewis said he has offered the peace pipe and $500 plus traveling expenses to the Indians if they would move.
The Indians didn't budge.
Mr. Lewis said he tried for seven months to evict the Indian family. He asked the Lake County Sheriff, implored the District Attorney, tried to convince the Board of Health.
“I got the run-around,” he said.
Every public agency he visited “passed the buck. Nobody wants to be accused of moving these Indians off their land,” he said.
The family of 11, guided by 87-year-old patriarch Clifford Salvadore, claims title to the territory by ancestral right.
Mr. Salvadore has been fighting off the attacks of subdividers for years and he says he isn't quitting now.
His family has been sleeping the ground for the past two nights; next to their sleeping ancestors in the old burial ground. A hastily rigged canvas tepee protects them from the elements.
Mr. Lewis again tried to make peace yesterday over the wreckage of the Indian cabins. The Indians remained recalcitrant.
The real estate dealer said he tried to negotiate Saturday just before he placed the demolition order.
“I knocked on Salvadore's door and said: ‘Today's the day.’ “He slammed the door in my face.
“I phoned the Sheriff's office and told them to send out some deputies. I wanted them to see that there was no violence.
“Then I told Salvadore to get everything out of the shacks he wanted to save and he did.”
Neither side showed any willingness to compromise when they walked into Judge Lyle Wilson's court today.
The Indians said they're even trying to rebuild their houses. And Mr. Salvadore's nephew, said he was expecting reinforcements next month. His son, Peter Smith, will finish a hitch with the Army in Germany.
“John isn't one to run from a fight,” his father said.
Poor old lady… she was harassed by people I do not associate with, or regard as “family” for family are people who love you, and care about you. Did I mention, that like Bobby Fischer, I was relentlessly publicly accused, maliciously, of being “insane”? The harassment became so severe, a great-aunt came to me, and warned, “If people call you crazy and you start believing it, you'll become crazy.” And why, because I called these persons out for the wrong they were guilty of doing to the innocent. My dear Grandmother, the only person who ever showed me love, was harassed relentlessly over a piece of real estate and a house that set on it… harassed until she was driven to the point of packing up and forfeiting her house, which they swept in like vultures to lay claim upon. I grieved empathetically with my grandmother's suffering and heartache. For that, taking sides, I endured years of torment, harassment, stalking, berating, defamation and community gossip by these “others.” Oh, I do so indeed understand Mr. Fischer's plight.
