Not So Famous…

For those who don’t know, you can find out about the bill HR 3490 at: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-3490

This bill does more transferring of land from the Bureau of Land Management to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is an organization that really only serves the interest of the Indian Tribes. I don’t support these Indian gaming compacts anyway, since it grants rights to tribes that the citizens of our nation don’t even have. Not to mention that an Indian Tribe is essentially a sovereign nation within our borders. They don’t really have to obey any laws they don’t want to. This is also due to the unbelievable power and wealth they’ve been able to amass with these casinos.

Specifically, this bill is going to help squash the heck out of small businesses like ranches, and will make life harder for those with homes and private ranches in the hills of Tuolumne County.

What may be harder to ignore is more people speaking out on this issue. Please write Nancy Pelosi at AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov, or you may get an e-mail form online at http://www.speaker.gov/contact. If you are a constituent of the 8th District of California, you may contact Mrs. Pelosi at sf.nancy@mail.house.gov. (Please include address and contact information, or your e-mail will be ignored, since that e-mail is really only for constituents of the 8th District.)

It would be even better if you could mail her a letter on some form of your company letterhead. Use this address if you’re not a constituent of the 8th Disctrict of California:

W.D.C. Office- 235 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202)225-4965

The basics of how this will affect small businesses are simple.  Some of the lands that will be transferred to native American control are part of what is called the “easement” rights of some property owners’ land.  Easement is simple in this case…not all properties are accessible by roads.  Some people have property where, in order to get to it, they have to travel over the lands that belong to others. There are agreements in place that allow landowners guaranteed access to their lands.  When properties that contain easement access are transferred into Native American control, they can make (and have made) life difficult for the landowner.  I have heard stories of customers seeing a sign that they are trespassing on private land before getting to a ranch.  I have heard stories of customers being harassed and followed by tribal security. Native American tribal councils have often refused to help maintain the road used by customers, or have promised to do so, but not followed through.  Ultimately, this is bad for these small businesses, and I fail to see why it’s good for America at all.

One of the small businesses affected by this bill wrote a letter to the powers that be, which was exceedingly informative as to why this is going to hurt their business. They were apparently summarily ignored. Please write Mrs. Pelosi and explain how this is not helping the economy of the US. Thank you.

Author’s Note: This is a re-posted article, which I have taken down.  My prior article mentioned businesses by name, so my site was coming up when people searched for their business, which is not so helpful.  They asked me to take the article down, which I have done.  However, I feel this issue is too darn important to take down without replacing it with anything.  Your elected government is doing this at the expense of the people of the United States of America.  Why?  Was Radanovich paid to make a deal like this?  Was this one of those back-room deals that people are always complaining about?  In any event, it’s wrong, and I’m not going to take down a source of information about this bill.

UPDATE: Sadly, the bill passed in the House of Representatives.  Don’t stop writing, though.  Let your elected officials know that this kind of thing is unacceptable.