The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians and San Diego State University recently co-sponsored a "Spirit of the Land" conference at SDSU. More than 80 keynote speakers spoke on environmental policy, smart growth concepts and American Indian sacred places. Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians spoke on protecting sacred California Indian places.

At the same time he was speaking for the need to protect the more than 1,000 sacred Indian places throughout the state, the Pechanga were trying to disenroll 133 members because the enrollment committee said they "failed to show proof of lineal descent from original Pechanga people."

John Gomez Jr. was one of those expelled and is the unofficial spokesman for the group. He was, until recently, on the enrollment committee and considers himself -- as the others do -- a Pechanga. He claims to be a direct descendant of Manuela Miranda, the granddaughter of an original "headman," Pablo Apis. Gomez said the disenrollment was not based on facts, but on "greed and power."

The expelled group's attorney, Jon Velie, agrees. He has said there is more than enough documentation to prove the lineage. Each member receives $10,000 per month from casino profits. So the fewer members, the larger the monthly check is.

The recent disenrollment is becoming the norm, not the exception, throughout the nation. As the Indian casinos become more prosperous, they are becoming more greedy. Laura Wass, a spokeswoman for the American Indian Movement said that hundreds of California Indians have been ejected from their tribes in recent years, many from tribes that run casinos, and that about 2,000 more people are facing ejection. In the few years that casinos have been allowed in the state, five of the San Diego County tribes, including three that operated casinos, decreased their memberships, according to Bureau of Indian Affairs figures. Six tribes that don't operate casinos had their memberships increase.

While Macarro was speaking on the need to preserve Indian sacred sites for the value of their heritage, he was also supporting the ejection of living members. It seems he and many other tribal members are more concerned with old bones than they are about the very few tribal members living today. By ejecting a person from the tribe, that person is no longer considered a member. Considering that California has 108 federally recognized Indian tribes and their average membership is less than 500 persons per tribe, you would think they would be doing everything they can to maintain their living heritage. Their heritage is so important to them that there is a pending bill in California that will make any new housing project, freeway or school get permission from the Indians if that development is within 10 miles of a "sacred site." That basically means that before a new school could be built, the school district would have get the approval -- read payoff -- of the Indian tribe who now values broken pottery more than living relatives.

Come this November, we in California get to vote on whether we should continue granting the Indians a complete monopoly on Las Vegas-style gambling and to grant them even more money making gambling machines. Unfortunately, the more successful they become, the more likely they are to expel members.

Ted Hillock of Temecula is a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: thillock@rancongroup.com.