"It's been a long wait for Kern County's Tejon Indian tribe, which has missed out on federal recognition -- and the potential for economic independence that comes with it -- for decades, and for no good reason.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' inexplicable omission of the Tejons from its list of federally recognized tribes ended last week when Larry Echo Hawk, the Obama administration's head of Indian affairs, determined that the tribe met the standard for approval but had been overlooked due to "administrative error."

The long, heretofore fruitless quest for recognition is over. Now comes the exciting and daunting part of the tribe's post-conquest existence: The harnessing of the legal assets now at its disposal. The 200-plus recognized members of the tribe are likely to open a casino, given the fact that casinos are Indian tribes' preferred way of cashing in, as nearly 60 other California tribes can attest -- and they already have a reported benefactor in Las Vegas casino owner William C. Wortman, who has bankrolled their lobbying efforts to this point."

Get the Story:
OUR VIEW: Tejon casino would bring good and bad (The Bakersfield Californian 1/8)

Also Today:
Branch of Tejon Indian Tribe Regains Federal Recognition; Talk of Casino Resumes (The Mountain Enterprise 1/6)

Related Stories:
Tejon Indian Tribe to start preparing for future as newest tribe (1/4)
BIA places Tejon Indian Tribe back on list of recognized tribes (1/3)