May 31, 2008 10:30 am US/Pacific
Soboba Casino Called 'Unsafe' After Shootouts
RIVERSIDE
Two recent shootouts between law officers and several members of the Soboba Indian tribe have prompted the Riverside County Sheriff's Deputies Association to warn the public that it considers the tribe's casino to be unsafe, it was reported on Saturday.
The 3,700-member union considers the tribal reservation to be "unstable" as a result of "recent violence against Riverside County deputy sheriffs," the Los Angeles Times and Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
Tribal leaders shot back that the deputies union has brought the shootouts into the poitical arena, and said in an e-mail that "the recent tragic events were unrelated to the casino and had no impact on the safety or welfare of either casino patrons or employees."
The casino, north of San Jacinto and about 35 miles southeast of Riverside, has become a pawn as the sheriff's office and tribal leaders deal with the aftermath of the two shootouts, one of which was considered an "ambush" by sheriff's deputies.
On May 8, deputies engaged in a shootout and killed Eli Morillo, 26, after investigating shots fired calls on a remote area of the tribe's reservation. Four days later, deputies killed Joseph Arres, 36, and Tamara Angela Hurtado, 29, in another shootout.
Since then, rhetoric between the sheriff's office and tribal leaders has toned down, as federal officials shuttled back and forth to defuse tensions.
Unlike in most states, local law enforcement agencies patrol Indian reservations in California. Relations between the Soboba tribe and local
sheriff had soured since the tribe stopped paying the costs of deputies patrols in the reservation.
Friday's actions by the sheriff's deputies union was criticized by Rose Salgado, a member of the Soboba Tribal Council, in an e-mail sent to The Times and Press-Enterprise.
"It is not productive to have an outside agency ... hinder the process of mediation between the Tribe, The United States Department of Justice, and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department -- an agency that they are supposed to be helping not alienating," Salgado wrote.
On Thursday, a local county supervisor weighed in and suggested that violence could be repeated if tribal leadership doesn't change it approach.
Supervisor Jeff Stone told a community meeting that the tribe has
allowed a longstanding violent situation to continue, and said tribal leaders
need to be more sophisticated about how they do their job, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The Times also reported that the nearby city council in San Jacinto has
expressed concern about what Mayor Jim Ayres called "some serious public safety issues out there."
About 425 houses and mobile homes dot the rural 6,000-acre reservation, and some deputies have said methamphetamine and other drug sales and use is a major problem there.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
