January 29, 2019 — A major hurdle in the sale of the Pinoleville trust property was cleared last week. Currently, there are over 800 beneficiaries on record, people who claim to be descended from the Native American men who originally bought the property at the end of the 19th century. About a dozen people currently live there. The Pinoleville Pomo Nation wants to buy most of the land, but a 2002 court order says the property must be subdivided first. And before that happens, all building and zoning violations must be adequately addressed.
At their January 22 meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1, with Carre Brown dissenting, to allow the planning and building department to oversee the work, and to take it over if the tribe doesn’t do it within two years.
Today we’ll hear what Pinoleville Pomo Nation Chairperson Leona L. Williams and Vice-Chair Angela James have to say about the history of the property and who they believe belongs there. They brought photocopies of what they identified as the original deed and court documents from the decades-long dispute about that very question.