Mission School Ceremonies to Proceed Despite Concerns

VENTURA —  The groundbreaking and blessing for the $5.5-million expansion of the San Buenaventura Mission’s Holy Cross School will proceed as planned today, despite a last-minute flurry of phone calls to city officials from groups concerned about the handling of the archeological site where the school will be built.

Planning and Redevelopment Manager Tom Figg said he received calls Tuesday from the state Office of Historic Preservation in Sacramento, the Native American Heritage Commission and numerous local Chumash concerned about the now-stalled dig behind the old San Buenaventura Mission.

“We have received a number of calls from the public regarding the project that is going on down there,” said Gary Reinoehl, the associate state archeologist from the state Office of Historic Preservation who called Figg.

Reinoehl said his office received about half a dozen calls from people with such concerns as whether the archeology was being properly conducted and whether the Native American monitor was doing his job.

“We are making inquiries to find out what the city is doing,” Reinoehl said.

The shutdown of the excavation came just a week before today’s groundbreaking and blessing for the $5.5-million expansion of the aging Holy Cross School.

The new school will rest atop the foundation of a part of the ancient mission that once held shops and living quarters.

By law, a Native American consultant must be present and archeologists must be on hand to investigate before construction can begin.

But Gary Stickle, the director of the dig, walked off the site last week, saying Msgr. Patrick O’Brien was pushing his team to excavate so quickly that the members did not have enough time to do their work in a professional manner.

The archeologists also alleged that the Native American monitor allowed a bulldozer to plow through soil that held the remains of an artifact-rich midden site--or ancient trash heap.

They called the midden site an especially valuable one because it included trash from the time when the Chumash first came in contact with Western missionaries--and may have held valuable clues about their lives before the arrival of Westerners.

Redstar, the Native American consultant on the project, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

But Diane Napoleone, a consultant for the Native American Heritage Commission, took a walk around the site Monday and said she believes the area has been compromised.

“You saw pieces of shell and bones on the surface,” she said. “Usually you would bag all of that.”

She wrote a report to the Native American Heritage Commission, based in Sacramento, urging it to investigate.

O’Brien said he is working with the archeologists to resolve the issue.

And Figg said O’Brien has made it clear that he will carry out his obligations.

“They have to carry out a mitigation and monitoring plan,” Figg said. “We are not going to compromise on the rules of the game.”

Meanwhile, the groundbreaking and blessing of the school expansion will begin at 9 a.m. today.

Regina Wilcox, a Chumash who lives in Oxnard, said several Chumash, archeologists and others will hold a low-key protest at the school groundbreaking.