The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians says its opposition to another tribe's land acquisition is not about gaming.

The San Manuel Band operates a successful casino. But chairman Deron Marquez says the tribe is trying to protect its ancestral homelands. He says the current reservation is mostly unusable.

Marquez says the tribe will fight efforts by the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe to seek a reservation in Hesperia. The Timbisha reservation is hundreds of miles away in Death Valley but the tribe is seeking more land under an act of Congress.

Get the Story:
San Manuel chairman: Dispute is about protecting tribe's ancestral homelands (The Hesperia Star 9/7)

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