Countywide : Sheriff Apologizes for Indian Remark

Ventura County Sheriff John V. Gillespie has issued a public apology to the Candelaria American Indian Council for comparing violent gangs to warring American Indian tribes while commenting last week in The Times on the drive-by slayings of two Saticoy men.

Gillespie’s apology read, in part, “It is without hesitation that I publicly apologize for remarks made in the Los Angeles Times recently comparing modern gang activity and the 19th-Century Great Plains Indians inasmuch as turf was important to both.”

Jessie Roybal, the council’s executive director, said 60 to 70 American Indians complained to her by telephone about the remark, which Gillespie made after the arrest of four youths in the April 7 drive-by shootings of two men in Cabrillo Village.

Roybal said of the callers, “They didn’t like being grouped with a bunch of killers or people who were alleged to be the killers. That was a real slap in the face. I know John isn’t bigoted or anything like that.”

Roybal said she forwarded news of the complaints to Gillespie, but said she knew that he meant no offense by the remark. She said that Gillespie, who studied American Indian history in college and has often helped the council, has great respect for the Indians and their culture.

“To my friends at Candelaria or to anyone else that these words may have offended, I am indeed sorry,” Gillespie’s apology concluded. “I feel substantial passion for the American Indian and am personally offended at the unfortunate plight of many. Because of this admiration and interest, I talk about them a great deal. Sometimes too much.”