Alleged Firing at Mission Stirs Furor

A new controversy erupted around the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano, stemming from an argument as old as the mission walls themselves.

A descendant of the Juaneno Indian tribe, which predates the first Spanish settlers and the 213-year-old mission, left a 40-year career at the mission, but not of his own accord, he said.

“I didn’t retire, I was fired,” said Floyd Nieblas, 63, who began his career at the mission selling bird seed. He left last month as its business manager. “When you have up until a certain day to go, you’re fired. It’s a hell of a way to end 40 years of service.”

Brian McInerney, director of the mission tourist center and a spokesman for Mission San Juan Capistrano, said Nieblas quit.

“Floyd Nieblas resigned in December,” McInerney said. “As far as the mission is concerned, that’s the end of the story.”

The uproar and a threat of a Juaneno protest during Swallows Day festivities March 19 have caused mission officials to rethink the situation, however. Father Paul Martin, Nieblas and Juaneno Tribal Chairman David Belardes met Friday, hoping to resolve the matter. Nieblas and Martin plan to meet again this week.

But to the Juanenos, the story is far from over.

“This is no isolated incident; it’s a long-brewing thing,” Belardes said. “This kind of thing goes back to when Father (Junipero) Serra was here. But we’ve survived here since 1776, not with a whole lot of help, and we’ll continue to survive.”

The mission is in the midst of reinforcing the old adobe buildings, a project estimated to cost up to $25 million.

“Restabilization is fine, we’re all for it,” Belardes said. “But not at the expense of our people or our culture.”

After an organizational study by the accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick Main & Co., other longtime employees have left and new people have been hired as the project proceeds, according to Belardes. Monica Devers Alford, a mission accountant and Juaneno descendant whose family worked for the mission 35 years, also has left, he said. Robert McCreary has replaced Nieblas under the title of mission administrator.

“We’re being told (the mission) is not an Indian, Mexican or Spanish parish any more,” Belardes said. “There’s a little church in Capo Beach for all of us to go to. In the ‘20s through the ‘50s, it was all Juanenos at the mission. Now, only about one-third of the 30 employees are Juanenos.”

McInerney calls those claims preposterous. He admits that an organizational study was done but declined to comment on its recommendations.

“This is an employer-employee problem,” he said. “To make anything more out of it is doing a disservice to the community, to the mission and to the people and families involved.”

But the reverberations have touched the entire Indian community, said Helen McMullen, president of the Indian Council.

“People around here are very upset.”

City Councilman Lawrence F. Buchheim, a longtime San Juan Capistrano resident, also acknowledged the uproar that rolled through the community.

“I grew up with Floyd,” Buchheim said. “He spent 40 years of his life at that mission. I don’t know if anyone realizes how upset the Indians are, but they are upset and they’re offended. I think if cooler heads prevail, however, this thing can be resolved.”

Belardes said he would call a press conference this week to announce the results of the talks with mission officials.

“Right now, we just want to make sure Floyd is taken care of,” he said. “After that we can talk about the future of the next generations of Juanenos at the mission.”