Barstow Mayor's rationale for caustic BIA letter is unsupported.

At a special meeting of the Barstow City Council on August 28, 2007, Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale gave the following as rationale for writing a rather caustic letter August 20, 2007 to Clay Gregory at the Sacramento office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) regarding the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe:

Mayor Dale said,
"It was in response to a letter the Chemehuevi Tribe had written to AES chastising the City of Barstow."

"The Chemehuevi had made accusations about our city and about what our city had done."

TVT has obtained and reviewed the August 8th letter from the Chemehuevi tribal Chairman Charles Wood to Doug Edwards, a consultant employed by Analytical Environmental Services (AES), a firm managing studies for the BIA regarding Barwest's dual casino plan for Barstow. It should be noted that the Chairman wrote the letter at the invitation of Edwards.

There is nothing remotely resembling accusations (defined as charges of wrongdoing) about the City of Barstow nor anything that appears to chastise (defined as to critize severely; rebuke) the City of Barstow.

The Chemehuevi Chairman's letter primarily addresses matters of ancestral claims/rights; and the Native American Heritage Commission and Native American consultations relative to the work being done by AES.

The Chemehuevi Chairman makes no mention of the "City of Barstow" in the body of the his letter; and nearly all references to "Barstow" are used in context of the geographic place. There are several references to sections of the "Barstow General Plan" and one reference to a letter sent by the group TASIN to the "Barstow City Council."

Given these facts, how did Mayor Dale come to create the subject of his letter to the BIA: "The Chemehuevi Tribe's Recent Assault on Barstow;" and how was it he came to the belief that the Chairman's letter chastised and makes accusations about the City of Barstow?

If Mayor Dale truly believes the Chairman's letter makes "accusations" and "chastises" the City of Barstow; we challenge him to publicly quote specific sections of the letter that support his accusations.

Absent any other explanation one must conclude that Mayor Dale has manufactured representations that aren't supported in Chairman Wood's letter to AES simply as a "stalking horse" to provide him with the cover he needed to make the caustic politically motivated attack meant to damage the Chemehuevi and advantage his friends behind Detroit-based Barwest LLC.

If you would like a copy of the Chemehuevi tribal chairman's letter or Mayor Dale's letter, please contact TVT at allverifiable@gmail.com