VENTURA : Auction Benefits American Indians

John Fletcher of Newbury Park emerged with half his face smeared with red paint, the other half painted black. Dressed in a beaded Yankton Sioux dance outfit and a feathery Mohawk headdress, the erstwhile probation officer introduced himself by his Indian name--Painted Horse.

“I like to come out when they talk about the money helping Indian kids for education,” he said.

Fletcher, a Delaware Indian, was among dozens of American Indians gathered at the K. M. Martindale Gallery in Ventura to help lure crowds to an auction benefiting American Indian students in Ventura County.

More than 50 blankets, paintings and jewelry were auctioned, including breastplates made of buffalo and deer horn, starting at $450. The proceeds are being set aside for scholarships for American Indians headed for college, according to Dick Wixon, founding member of the Native American Inter-Tribal Assn. of Ventura County.

“This event displays the Indian culture,” Wixon said. “It’s also a social gathering for Indians who haven’t seen each other for a while.”

Tony Ramero, a member of the Chumash tribe, traveled from the Santa Inez reservation near Solvang to talk about Indian culture, the environment and to perform a dance with his group, the Chumash Dolphin Dancers.

“There are not many Indians who do this anymore,” Ramero told the audience.

A member of the Wampanoag Montgan tribe, John Rutherford of Ventura performed on drums with Dave Lehto of Thousand Oaks. Rutherford said the charity event “gives the American Indian a chance to get out front of the public so they can get to know us beyond the stereotype.”