BIA admits liability for troubled mobile home park

Friday, August 3, 2007  

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is liable for poor living conditions at a mobile home park on the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Reservation in California, the local superintendent says.

The BIA is urging Henry Duro, a former chairman of the Desert Cahuilla Tribe, to make improvements at the Desert Mobile Home Park. An inspection of the facility found overcrowded homes, unsafe drinking water, sewage leaking and electrical problems

"We are obliged to do something about it," superintendent James Fletcher told The Los Angeles Times. "If we didn't, we could possibly be legally liable."

But a spokesperson hired by Duro accused the BIA of acting prematurely. The spokesperson said the agency is targeting the mobile home park because everyone who lives there is Hispanic.

"Open your eyes," the spokesperson said at a press conference, The Times reported. "Illegal immigration is in the news now."

Get the Story:
Owner defends Indio mobile home park (The Los Angeles Times 8/3)
pwday

Relevant Links:
Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians - http://www.torresmartinez.org

Related Stories:
BIA threatens action against mobile home park (8/1)
Torres Martinez Reservation littered with dumps (6/4)
BIA threatens to close reservation trailer park (05/16)
Dump on Torres Martinez Reservation fined $46M (03/23)
EPA goes after dumps on Torres Martinez land (3/21)
Another fire burns at Torres Martinez dump (11/28)
Board allocates funds for Torres Martinez dump (11/16)
Torres Martinez Reservation dump on Superfund list (10/20)
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Judge closes dump on Torres Martinez Reservation (08/09)
Editorial: Little help for tribes with illegal dumps (12/19)
Illegal dumping a big problem on reservation (12/13)
Fire burns for a week on Torres Martinez Reservation (04/11)
California tribe to use EPA grant to monitor water (02/02)
Calif. tribe gives members bottled water (02/11)
Church ordered to remove tent from reservation (10/05)
Judge asked to shut down reservation dump site (7/24)
Feds seek to close reservation mobile home park (07/11)
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