Butte County Tribe Votes to Expel 70 Members
Seventy members of a Butte County Indian tribe have been voted out of the tribe after they signed a petition to recall the tribe’s elected leaders earlier this year.
“They gave us three minutes to defend ourselves, one at a time, and then they ‘disenrolled’ us in one vote,” said Robert Edwards, who was expelled from the Enterprise Rancheria tribe of Estom Yumeka Maidu.
The tribe, formed in 1915, is seeking permission from the state and federal governments to build a casino in Yuba County.
Edwards said the vote Thursday was 68 to 15 to remove from the tribe those who had signed the petition against five tribal council members in September. Edwards is a former vice president of the 345-member tribe.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
