Tribes to protest at Bolsa

American Indian groups planned to hold a demonstration from 5 to 6 p.m. today on the Bolsa Chica mesa to protest what they called disrespect for their ancestors’ remains.

In addition to protesting developer Hearthside Homes’ handling of 174 sets of human remains at their Brightwater property, they planned to gather signatures for a letter to the California Coastal Commission.

Members of the Gabrielino-Tongva, Juaneño and Chumash tribes were scheduled to attend the protest, along with supporters.

The demonstration is to raise awareness of an historic burial site and to ask people to respect it, said Linda Candelaria, a Gabrielino-Tongva who planned to attend the protest.

“This is a sacred burial ground and I don’t think a lot of people are aware of that,” she said. “I want to make people aware of what went on there. The human remains and artifacts they did find are being stored in trailers and boxes.”

Protesters are frustrated with the handling of remains and what they call a lack of disclosure of what was found, said Paul Moreno, who is on the board of the California Cultural Resources Preservation Alliance and organizing the petition effort.

Moreno said the county coroner should have had records of every single set of remains.

“We’re protesting because we can’t find records as far as when these remains were unearthed,” he said. “Why is there no documentation of all these remains being unearthed? Why wasn’t the native community informed as to what’s going on?”

While state-appointed Most Likely Descendants for each tribe have negotiated with the developer, Moreno said he didn’t feel native peoples were being well represented by the deals.

That’s why the letter, which now has 400 signatures, will ask for a hearing to revoke the developer’s permit for the land, or at least force a meeting to discuss concessions on the land, Moreno added.

But Hearthside Homes Vice President Ed Mountford said the Coastal Commission had dismissed such challenges already, and that his company was following all the rules set out for it.

“They tried that once before, and I believe the decision by the commission would be the same,” he said.

“We have followed all of the regulations, all of the state laws and all the conditions of our permit. We believe we are in complete compliance with everything that is required of us by the permit. We stand by that.”

The developer has also made recent concessions to allow more archaeological items to be reburied with the final remains, he added.

The final reburials are scheduled for some time in coming months, Mountford said.

The protest was scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at Bolsa Chica Street and Warner Avenue.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].