Belardes, Mission San Juan Capistrano Settle Lawsuit

Capistrano Dispatch reports the lawsuit pitting the Orange Diocese against Native Americans over a memorial garden installed above burial grounds at Mission San Juan Capistrano has been settled.

The dispute produced a Weekly news story on the legal spat and a cover story on the lead plaintiff, Chief David Belardes, leader of the so-called “Belardes Group” of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation. That coverage also produced a follow-up story in which a rival Juaneño group that works closely with the mission questioned the Indian heritage of Belardes. There have been several related blog posts and reader comments posted on ocweekly.com as well.

In the suit that also named the mission and the City of San Juan Capistrano as co-defendants, the Belardes Group maintained a fountain and other landscaping improvements within Monsignor Paul Martin Memorial Garden adjacent to the priests'
rectory at the mission lacked proper permits and that the city
had failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

The city, mission and the rival Juaneño group reached an agreement whereby other offending structures were removed but the fountain, landscaping and hardscape were left in place there would be be no further ground disturbances. Belardes walked out of those talks and sued. He also won support from the California Native American Heritage Commission, which regulates activities on sacred sites.
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According to the Dispatch, the settlement allows the
remaining improvements to stay in place subject to the mission adhering to the following
conditions:

– Pay $10,000 to defray a
portion of the legal expenses incurred by the Belardes Group in
bringing the lawsuit, which will then be dismissed;

-Assemble
a list of all records, surveys and
other written materials that are presently in the possession of the
diocesan archivist and that address the boundaries of the Old Mission
Cemetery. The Belardes Group notes the mission's own maps show roughly
half of the cemetery, where thousands of Juaneños are known to be
buried, are in the publicly accessible faux cemetery tourists pass
through daily and the other portion is on the other side of the fence,
buried under what is now the Rectory Garden;

-Engage appropriate archaeological and Native American
consultants to monitor any future ground-disturbing activities and comply with all applicable laws and regulations governing
such activities;

-Update and install a new sign in the
publicly accessible portion of the Old Mission Cemetery to add more
commemorative information about the Acjachemen ancestry of the persons
known to be buried in the cemetery;

-Install another sign of similar
form and content to be displayed on the north side of the gate
separating the publicly-accessible portion from the Rectory garden
portion of the Old Mission Cemetery;

-Install a permanent commemorative piece to honor those persons of Acjachemen
ancestry who perished in the Church when it collapsed during the
earthquake of 1812. The deadline for this is Dec. 12, 2009, the next “Day of
Remembrance” event to be held at the mission's Old Stone Church. This past Dec. 12, mission Rev. Monsignor Arthur A.
Holquin announced Day of
Remembrance would now be an annual event.

The Dispatch includes this statement from Holquin:

“The
settlement of the case will allow the mission to
re-focus its efforts on preservation, education, and museum
interpretation of the role of Native Americans. On behalf of the
mission, I am pleased to have resolved this matter and look forward to
our future projects and working to preserve Orange County's only
mission for years to come.”

There was also this from the Belardes Group's Tribal Council:

“We look forward to
putting this lawsuit behind us and trust that our settlement will lead
to a better understanding about the importance of working to preserve
our history.”