A leadership dispute within the Cloverdale Rancheria could determine the future of the tribe's casino plan.
The tribe is working with Sealaska, an Alaska Native regional corporation, on the casino. The Bureau of Indian Affairs recently closed the comment period on a draft environmental impact statement for the project. But the BIA is also dealing with issue -- who is really in charge of the tribe. A federal judge has given the agency more time to help tribal members resolve the dispute. “We know who the real Cloverdale Rancheria is,” a spokesperson for Chairwoman Patricia Hermosillo told The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. “There’s no concern from the tribe’s perspective.” Gerad Santana and other tribal members claim they are in charge of the tribe. Get the Story: