What's in a name?

by reenee,
Santa Maria

Some people are up in arms about it. Other people are having palpitations over it. Some are suffering gastric distress over it. Others still are writing to editors of newspapers, or calling radio and television stations. What's got them so angry and fired up?

Well, it seems that our state Legislature has voted to add commemorative signs along Highway 154 in honor of the tribe that has lived in this area for thousands of years. Maps will still designate it as Highway 154, but that's not good enough for the groups that already have their jockeys in a knot over the Chumash Casino Resort.

This highway, to my knowledge, has almost always been referred to as the San Marcos Pass. Rarely have I ever heard it called Highway 154. However, the Santa Ynez and Los Olivos folk have taken exception to the entire idea. They say that renaming the highway has nothing to do with the Chumash culture. They say that is has everything to do with marketing.

If this is the way that they feel then the next thing to be on the lookout for will be bullet holes in the signs. This of course is not to say that those good folks would do it, but there is after all, a lunatic fringe to any well organized group.

Vincent Armenta, tribal chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians said, "Travelers taking the scenic route from Santa Ynez to Santa Barbara cross a journey that the Chumash people have traversed for thousands of years."

He said the groups had ample time to comment on the resolution, after it was introduced August 23rd. The final vote was September 21st.

He added, "Their accusations are typical of the type of vile rhetoric that they routinely spew. I find it appalling that they have taken something so wonderful and turned it into a controversy. It's a few signs along a route that goes through the middle of Chumash country. The signs will not fundamentally change their lives so I'm confused as to why they have created so much drama."
Because they can, Vincent.

The Santa Barbara News-Press carried a story on it. In it Nora K. Wallace writes:
Michael Glassow and Chumash expert John Johnson, curator of anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History provided information for the legislature's designation discussion. The resolution was then passed unanimously.

The area's local politicians, Assemblyman Pedro Nava from Santa Barbara, Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee from San Luis Obispo, and state Sen. Tom McClintock from Thousand Oaks, all voted in favor of the designation. However, even though Nava is the Assembly member for the district that includes this highway, the item was carried by Assemblyman Joe Coto from San Jose. Apparently, due to the fact that the resolution was carried by a legislator from out of the area, most political observers had no idea it was working its way through the legislative process.

Aren't political observers supposed to have their fingers on the pulse of the legislature? Isn't that why they're called political observers?

Leaders of the groups Preservation of Santa Ynez and Preservation of Los Olivos expressed the loudest complaints about the highway naming. Those groups, among several others in the valley, have long challenged the tribe over its economic development and real estate purchases.

That right there might be the real reason for the gnashing of the teeth.