Indians Grateful

I was surprised to read in your paper that the Indians meeting with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) in Escondido presented grievances only, and followed the senator’s lead in denouncing the Reagan Administration for not doing more for them (“Tribal Leaders Complain to Senate Panel About Lack of Money, Urban Intrusion,” April 28). No mention was made of the fact that in November, 1988, President Reagan signed a bill that gave to the various Indian reservations of Southern California more than 5,000 additional acres of federal land that formerly was held under the Bureau of Land Management.

This was done by means of a House resolution introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado), which was passed as part of Public Law 100-581 and distributed additional federal land to the various bands of Indians.

We at Mesa Grande were delighted with this great gift of the Reagan Administration, and I’m apologetic for my Indian colleagues who failed to mention in the recent hearing what the Reagan Administration had done for them. Incidentally, Sen. Inouye made the suggestion that they lobby Washington as Mission Indians rather than individual bands. The bill transferring the land to Indians referred to them as bands or groups of Mission Indians; perhaps the senator has never read this bill.

JACK HAMILTON

Santa Ysabel