GIVE IT BACK TO THE INDIANS. The City of San Juan Capistrano has given land back to the Indians. Not completely, it is true, but the legal and public acknowledgement has been made that the tribe exists, and that it has rights. The Acjachemen now have the right to be human and religious in their own way (at some times of the year), although they have to share their holy place the rest of the time with whoever comes stumbling down the pike.

This triumph for the Acjachemen Tribe of San Juan Capistrano could well-be not seen as such by everyone. After all, it's only three acres out of the thousand square miles stolen from them, but it's the principle of the thing. We all know that a small acknowledgement of principle can have endless consequences.

The three acre parcel is more-or-less at the intersection of Camino Capistrano and Junipero Serra Road, within sight and a stone's throw of the ancient sycamore where the vigilantes used to lynch the bandits. In the Old Days (which aren't really so old compared to European dynasties and such-like), the cycles of season and religion were traditionally expressed on these three acres. Now the Ruling Class has decided that they may be so expressed again. In other words, Indians have rights! If they have rights, they must exist as a people.

Now if Uncle Sam will get off his 1% fat bum and remove his blinders, the Feds will, at long last, and insultingly overdue, also admit that this Acjachemen society, in this. its place, for centuries unnumbered before the Spanish ripped them off a mere 247 years ago, is as valid and worthy as any other. It's long overdue that the disreputable rancid opinions of Generals Sherman and Sheridan be retired in the disgrace they richly deserve.

Dion